France: Barley area forecast to increase by 7.7% this year

French farmers are expected to cut sharply their sowings of sugar beet and rapeseed for this year’s harvest while increasing the area for soft wheat and barley, the country’s farm ministry said on April 23.

The barley area in 2019 is forecast at 1.9 million hectares, up 7.7 percent versus 2018 and 3.4 percent above the five-year average. That includes an expected 17.4 percent jump in spring barley sowings to 569,000 hectares, with the ministry noting particularly sharp increases in the Pays de la Loire and Centre regions.

The winter barley area is pegged at 1.34 million hectares, up 4.0 percent from last year and also above the ministry’s February estimate of 1.32 million.

Soft wheat sowings, including a very small spring wheat area, are seen at 5.01 million hectares, up 2.8 percent compared with 2018. The estimate is stable compared with February’s winter soft wheat projection and also in line with the average soft wheat area of the past five years.

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