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French wheat for intervention

PARIS: French farmers last week offered 23,700 tonnes of wheat into public intervention stores, raising the total for the 2002/2003 season to 304,100 tonnes, French cereals office ONIC said on Monday.

They also offered some 9,100 tonnes of barley, taking the total to 116,400 tonnes, ONIC said.

Including the 3,200 tonnes of sorghum already in store, total French grain offers totalled 423,700 tonnes, it said.

French farmers are permitted to sell most types of grain into intervention between November 1 and May 31.

ONIC has said that unless the pace of exports picks up significantly, more than one million tonnes of wheat might be in public stores by the end of the current 2002/03 campaign.-Reuters