Germany: Spring barley crop expected to jump 30.4% this year

The association of German farm cooperatives on May 16 forecast that Germany’s 2018 wheat crop would fall 2.0 percent from 2017 to 23.98 million tonnes, Reuters reported.

The cooperatives forecast Germany’s 2018 winter rapeseed crop would fall 3.3 percent to 4.12 million tonnes.

In its previous harvest forecast in April, the association had forecast a 2018 wheat harvest of 24.29 million tonnes and a winter rapeseed crop of 4.62 million tonnes.

The reason for the cut in the wheat harvest forecast was the estimate released on May 15 by Germany’s national statistics office that German farmers had reduced winter wheat sowings for the 2018 crop by 5.6 percent, the association said.

German farmers have planted more spring grains partly because of the difficulty in sowing winter crops.

The spring barley crop, used for malt and beer production, is expected to jump 30.4 percent year-on-year to 2.39 million tonnes.

The winter barley crop, used mostly for animal feed, is forecast to fall 3.0 percent to 8.74 million tonnes.

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