Chinese pigs feasting on French barley

A Pig farmer walks past hanging ham at a salting plant in Brennilis, western France. Photo: AFP.

Chinese pigs are developing a taste for French food.

Shipments of French barley to China may rise to 2.19 million metric tons this season, a more than 20-fold increase from last year, according to forecasts from Offre & Demande Agricole, a farm adviser in Bourges, France.

The nation is poised to surpass Australia as the world's top barley shipper.

China has sought new sources of feed such as barley and sorghum for its animal herd after banning imports of a genetically modified U.S. corn variety in 2013.

While the curbs were lifted last year, Ukraine's corn shipments to China have increased fivefold since October and U.S. plantings of sorghum may reach the highest in seven years, according to data from researcher UkrAgroConsult and a Bloomberg survey.

"It was really a surprise, this Chinese demand," said Paul Gaffet, an analyst at Offre & Demande Agricole. "It's enormous."

Europe is becoming a top seller of grain to other nations as the euro weakens and shipping costs remain low.

The European Union will may deliver 10 million tons of barley outside its borders this season, the most in a least a decade, based on a forecast from the bloc and Eurostat data.

China will keep buying French barley as long prices stay competitive, Zhao Yu Li, the Beijing office manager for the grain growers' export lobby, said earlier this month at conference in Paris.

The nation consumes twice as much pork as other meat combined, data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development and the United Nations show.

"Very strong demand for barley out of China has seen France probably sell some of their largest tonnages to China," said Jason Craig, general manager of marketing and trading at West Perth, Australia-based CBH Group, the country's largest cooperative.

China imported twice as much barley last year and the total may rise another 14 per cent to 6.15 million tons in 2015, according to Matthias Wree, a managing director at a Evergrain International, a Swiss trading firm that specializes in the grain.

The EU may increase barley exports to China by 52 per cent to 3.2 million tons in 2015, while Australia's shipments could fall 34 per cent to 2.3 million tons, according to Wree.

Additional purchases from China, which traditionally used barley for beer, is driven by demand for feed, he said.

Among varieties used for animal feed, the discount of Rouen barley to milling wheat has narrowed to 2.50 euros a ton, compared with 34.50 euros in July, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

"They have the biggest hog herd in the world," said Francois Luguenot, head of market analysis at Paris-based InVivo, the largest exporter of French grain.

"Demand for feed grains is not going to decline."