Traders and analysts said China's continued demand for French wheat and barley in the current sales year, with China's aggressive cereal imports and friction with Australia greatly boosted French exports, despite the poor harvest this year. More than a dozen Panamax class cargo ships are believed to have been reserved for transportation to China in the first half of the 2020 / 21 sales year, which starts in July, with a capacity of about 700000 tons, traders said, Reuters reported. Some estimate that sales will be at least one million tons.

Port data show that about 200000 tons of French wheat have been shipped or will be shipped so far.

"At the beginning of the new sales year, demand in China remains dynamic," says Nathan Cordier of agritel, a consultancy.

"Fortunately, there is also China, because we don't export much wheat to other places."