France: France begins winter wheat and barley sowing

French farmers had harvested 67% of this year's grain maize crop by Oct. 3, compared with 51% a week earlier and 6% by the same week last year, farm office FranceAgriMer said on October 7.

The harvest is 28 days ahead of last year's pace and 18 days ahead of the five-year average, FranceAgriMer said in a cereal crop report.

Harvesting started early in late August after an exceptionally hot and dry summer accelerated plant growth. The weather also stressed crops and is expected to lead to the smallest French maize harvest in three decades.

An estimated 41% of maize crops were in good or excellent condition last week, stable from the previous week to hold at their lowest level in FranceAgriMer data going back to 2011.

Sowing cereals for next year's harvest has begun, with 3% of the expected soft wheat area and 8% of the anticipated winter barley area drilled by Monday, October 3, FranceAgriMer said.

The sowing progress matched the level seen a year ago for both crops.

E-malt.com, the global information source for the brewing and malting industry professionals. The bi-weekly E-malt.com Newsletters feature latest industry news, statistics in graphs and tables, world barley and malt prices, and other relevant information. Click here to get full access to E-malt.com. If you are a Castle Malting client, you can get free access to E-malt.com website and publications. Contact us for more information at marketing@castlemalting.com .