Buckwheat: Chinese traders face high freight costs

February 16, 2021 at 3:46 PM , Der AUDITOR
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WARSAW/BEIJING. Raw material purchases continue to be challenging in the buckwheat market. Unfavourable weather conditions led to lower yields in some cases, and at the same time…

... governments offered subsidies for the cultivation of pulses, which led some farmers to grow less buckwheat from the outset. Prices for European buckwheat are currently so high that they are not profitable for traders who still have to service cheaper contracts from last year. Meanwhile, the Chinese buckwheat market still offers sufficient goods and prices for hulled organic buckwheat have stabilised at a level of USD 1,480/mt FOB Dalian before the holidays. What makes shipments from China much more difficult, however, is the massive increase in freight costs in recent months to USD 4,500 for a 20' FCL for shipments to Europe. 

Half of the goods come from Poland

Despite the problems in the buckwheat market, Germany was able to more than double its imports between September and November 2020. Overall, the import volume increased by 130% year-on-year to 2,064 mt. At 1,066 mt (+60.5% yoy), around half of the shipments came from Poland and imports from Russia and Lithuania, Hungary and China were also significantly higher.

Buckwheat* imports to Germany, in mt

Land

2019/20

2020/21

Diff.

Poland

664

1,066

60.5%

Russia

91

515

465.9%

Lithuania

5

152

2,940.0%

Estonia

0

152

n/a

Hungary

24

64

166.7%

Ukraine

22

39

77.3%

China

10

34

240.0%

Netherlands

28

12

-57.1%

Others

56

30

-46.4%

Total

900

2,064

129.3%

Federal Statistical Office of Germany / Sep-Nov

*10081000 Buckwheat

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