Besides the major wheat exporting countries USA, Canada, Australia and
Argentina, Europe also plays quite a significant role, for like the USA it has
an efficient and politically influential agricultural sector and a vigorous
processing industry that has no difficulty in absorbing and making optimum use
of the very different offers on the market. Within Europe it is France that
traditionally leads the field. In no other European country does agriculture
enjoy such a privileged position and high social status. Since 1979 France has
felt the need to publish very comprehensive and detailed reports on the condition
of each year's grain harvest in order to handle the increasingly difficult situation
on the world market and within Europe itself. The reports are concerned with bread wheat, durum wheat
and barley and cover three main topics:
• Distribution of varieties
• Comparison of costs with foreign competitors
• Quality analyses.
The survey for the distribution of varieties is carried out in
April/May. Samples of the harvest are taken from farms and also from the trade.
The analysis is the responsibility of Institut du Végétal ARVALIS, which
receives strong support from the milling association ANMF (Association
Nationale de la Meunerie Française). The system is organized and the reports made
out by ONIC (Office National Interprofessionnel des Céréales).
1. Distribution of Varieties
in the 2003 Harvest The proportion of high-quality varieties has risen
steadily over the past ten years, from 52% in 1996 to 77% in 2003. An overview
is given in Tab. 56.
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| Tab. 56. Distribution of varieties in 2003 |
The current champion is the variety Apache, which first came onto the
market officially in 1999 and now dominates the whole of the south-west (Fig.
33).
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Fig. 33: Share of the wheat varieties in the total growing area in
France
|
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Fig. 34: Geographic distribution of wheat qualities and growing areas
|
The main growing areas are shown in Fig. 34. The diagram reveals that
in contrast to Australia and the USA, for example, very large areas of the country
quite distant from each other are used for wheat-growing. This is made even clearer
by the distribution of the top variety, Apache, and the variety Soissons. Both for domestic use and for export the latter is the "senior French
wheat variety" thanks to its remarkable resistance to sprouting. Although
neither of the two varieties is grown in all parts of the country, they enjoy
similar popularity in very different geographic regions.
 |
Tab. 57: Growing areas of new varieties at their introduction
|
But here too, nothing is as constant as change. In the spring of 2004,
two new varieties found their way into the "charts": Caphorn and
Raspail (Tab. 57), both classified as BPS; the varieties Isengrain and Charget
fell back, and ANMF regarded that as a success of its own efforts. Soissons
remained largely stable, in spite of the general low level of sprouting resulting
from the dry harvest of 2004.
2. Quality Classification
 |
Fig. 35: Distribution of wheat over the four quality classes in the
harvests of 2002 to 2004
|
 |
Tab. 58: Grading of French wheat
|
The quality grading is comparatively simple and clear; Fig. 35 and
Tab. 58 show the details. In spite of their simple structure (or maybe precisely
because of it?) the systems are generally accepted both within France and in
the export sector. But of course more details are needed to provide valid
information, and in fact ONIC’s internal data goes into much more individual and
regional detail than the information available to the customer. That becomes
clear from Tab. 59, that shows a quality programme for the variety Apache and
15 locations that is understood everywhere in the world. For details of the Alveogram,
which is widely used in France. The baking tests
are described below:
 |
Tab. 59: Quality data for the variety Apache in the 15 different
growing regions
|
French Baking Tests (CNERNA
Method)
Baking quality is assessed using pure flours to which malt has been
added, if necessary, to correct amylase activity. Water absorption is the
amount of water used in preparing the dough. It is expressed relative to a
dough with a water content of 14%. The rating of a flour, expressed by a score
of up to 300, includes volume, the appearance of the bread and its crumb, and also
the kneading properties of the dough. In order to assess the final result more
easily, most test bakeries generally use a scoring table followed by a
qualifier. The scoring system, which is specific to ARVALIS, is summarized in
Tab. 60.
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Tab. 60: ARVALIS scoring system for French bread
|
In the exceptional year 2003, 30 mio t of quality wheat were produced
in France. The average values are shown in Tab. 61.
 |
Tab. 61: Typical data for French wheat from the 2003 harvest
|
3. Exports
Because of the apparent dominance of the "classic" wheat
exporting countries USA and Canada it is often overlooked that France stil plays
an extremely important role in the world market and that it was the
second-biggest exporter in 2002/2003. Over half of the country's total exports
of 15.8 mio t (to be precise: 8.8 mio t) went to countries outside the EU. Fig.
36 shows the major importers of French soft wheat of the last 4 years. Important
harbours for wheat exports are Rouen (with Le Havre and Caen), Nantes and La
Pallice (outer harbour of La Rochelle) for the south-west and Sète and Port La
Nouvelle for the Mediterranean region. When treating French wheat flours it
must be remembered that the average gluten structures of the export lots come
very close to the top qualities from other parts of Europe. Their basic
characteristics, expressed for example in kernel hardness, lie roughly between
the US grades SRW and HRW. However, they do not achieve the best values of the
top groups HRS and CWRS.
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Fig. 36: Major importers for French soft wheat
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