French wheat harvest slow after persistent rain
Soft wheat crop 4% cut by July 8, FranceAgriMer says
Rain hampers field work as winter barley harvest continues
Farmers report poor winter barley yields after soggy season
Releads, adds bullets and comments paragraphs 10-11, 13-14
July 12 (Reuters) -The wheat harvest in France, the European Union's top producer, showed little progress last week as persistent rain put the country on course for one of its worst harvests in decades.
Just 4% of the soft wheat area had been harvested by Monday, compared with 1% a week earlier, data from farm office FranceAgriMer showed on Friday.
The same time a year ago, 26% of the area had been harvested and the five-year average is 19%, FranceAgriMer said in a report.
Some 57% of French soft wheat was rated as in good or excellent condition, down from 58% a week earlier and 80% a year ago, it said.
The rating remained the lowest for the time of year since 2020, when French wheat crops were also affected by heavy rain, the office's data showed.
France's agriculture ministry this week forecast a 15% drop in production of soft wheat, the country's main cereal crop, to a four-year low of 29.7 million metric tons.
Market estimates are lower, with some pegging production below the 2016 crop of 27.6 million metric tons that was the smallest this century.
FranceAgriMer officials on Thursday warned of downward revisions to come as it gave initial projections of reduced French wheat exports and stocks in 2024/25.
Poor yields so far for winter barley, the first major cereal to be harvested, have fuelled concerns after repeated rain and limited sunshine since late last year.
"I've never experienced in my career four seasons of rain like that," Jean-Baptiste Vervy, a crop farmer east of Paris, said. "Barley is looking very bad, everyone has lost 20-30 quintals (2-3 tons) a hectare in yield."
Vervy, like other growers, is hoping for a brighter spell to speed up wheat harvesting, with forecasts suggesting warm, sunny weather around the middle of next week.
Nationwide, 61% of winter barley had been cut by Monday, down from 90% a year ago and a five-year average of 71%, according to FranceAgriMer.
Soufflet Agriculture, part of agri-food group InVivo, is observing a 20-25% drop in winter barley yields from last year in its supply network, Francois Pignolet, head of crop procurement, said in a harvest update on Friday.
For soft wheat, initial results showed satisfactory quality and an absence of mycotoxins, he added, without giving an indication on yields.
Reporting by Anna Peverieri, Dagmarah Mackos and Gus Trompiz; Editing by Mark Potter and Barbara Lewis
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
