traffics : Grain Exports: mixed results for 2024-2025, but good signs for 2025-2026

Despite a historically low harvest in 2024, Rouen's operators demonstrated resilience. HAROPA PORT draws a mixed but a hopeful picture for the upcoming grain export campaign, which is expected to be more favorable. New facilities, logistical innovations and diversified markets are enhancing the port’s appeal.

Published on - Updated

Enlarge image, modal window
©HAROPA PORT / Félix Aubourg

A challenging context for the 2024–2025 Campaign

The 2024–2025 grain export campaign unfolded under strained conditions. In summer 2024, France recorded its worst soft wheat harvest in 40 years, producing only 25.5 Mt of soft wheat and 9.8 Mt of barley (compared to 34.6 Mt and 11.8 Mt on average).
Despite this sharp yield drop due to extreme weather, Rouen’s port platform maintained solid activity levels, exporting a total of 5.21 Mt of grain, including:

  • 3.21 Mt of wheat
  • 1.91 Mt of barley
  • 90,000 tonnes of corn

HAROPA PORT even increased its market share to 54% of France’s seaborne grain exports.
 

Diversified markets despite lower volumes


Although volumes were lower than the previous campaign (8.7 Mt in 2023-2024), Rouen’s exporters saw a more dynamic second half of the campaign, supported by European demand and competitive French pricing.

Main export destinations from Rouen:

  • Maghreb: 1.67 Mt (mainly to Morocco)
  • European Union: 1.53 Mt (including 0.67 Mt to Portugal)
  • West Africa: 0.53 Mt
  • China: 0.38 Mt (a sharp drop from 2.5 Mt the previous year)
  • New markets: Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Thailand, Qatar...

Also: a 74% rise in oilseed exports, with 0.29 million tonnes exported, thanks in particular to rapeseed.

2025–2026: an early and promising campaign

The upcoming campaign is off to a better start, with an earlier and more promising harvest in terms of yields. Export volumes to third countries are expected to increase significantly.
This momentum is further supported by new logistics infrastructure coming into operation on the port platform.

A new silo under construction in Petit-Couronne

Among key infrastructure projects, the BZ Group has started building a new silo at the Petit-Couronne quay. Once operational in 2026, this new facility will boost storage capacity from 75,000 to 130,000 tonnes.
To accommodate the expected traffic growth, HAROPA PORT has undertaken major upgrades on the quay:

  • installation of two new mooring dolphins,
  • extension of the berth by 16 meters,
  • installation of new fendering systems.
     

Innovative logistics for large vessels

On March 7, 2025, the bulk carrier Kavo Alkyon, bound for Jordan, completed a dual-tide departure - a maneuver coordinated by HAROPA PORT’s Rouen teams.
This operation allowed the vessel to "ride the tide" and benefit from the highest water levels to maximize its draft and cargo capacity. This success opens up promising new options for:

  • increasing the competitiveness of grain exporters,
  • maximizing the potential of Seine River loading infrastructure,
  • adapting to growing constraints in global freight shipping.