Report: EU Wheat Exports in August Went Primarily to Africa, Middle East

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Over 80% of the European Union's wheat exports in August went to countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and sub-Saharan Africa, according to an agri-food trade report published by the European Commission on Tuesday.

"EU exports reached EUR 20.3 billion [$21 billion] in August 2022. This corresponds to a 6% increase compared to July 2022. Compared to August 2021, this is still 27% higher even if prices started to go up already at this period of 2021 for certain commodities. With the fresh 2022 harvest of wheat, EU export values increased significantly in particular to MENA region and sub-Saharan Africa," the document read.

In value terms, the biggest exports in August were for cereal preparations (1.7 billion euros), wheat (1.6 billion euros) and wine (1.4 billion euros), according to the monitoring data.

Exports to MENA grew 40% compared with August 2021 and exports to sub-Saharan Africa grew by 80%, the paper said.

"In August only, 2 million tons of wheat reached the MENA region (48% of total EU wheat exports) and 1.5 million tons arrived in sub-Saharan Africa (34% of total EU wheat exports)," the document read.

The United Kingdom, China and the United States accounted for almost 55% of the EU's exports of cereal preparations in August, while 11% went to the MENA region and 6% to sub-Saharan Africa.