France: Winter barley crop rating drops, soft wheat rating stable this week

The state of French soft wheat crops remained stable last week, although still at their worst in four years, data from farm office FranceAgriMer showed on March 29.

Some 66% of French soft wheat was rated as being in good or excellent condition by March 25, unchanged from the previous week but down from 94% a year earlier, FranceAgriMer said in a cereal report.

The rating was the lowest for the time of year since 2020, when French wheat crops were affected by heavy rain during planting.

Wet weather since autumn has disrupted planting and early crop development in France, the European Union's biggest grain producer, and other parts of western Europe.

The European Commission this week forecast that the European Union's main wheat crop will fall to a four-year low in 2024/25 due to a drop in the planted area.

Meanwhile, EU crop monitoring service MARS said winter grain crops were in mediocre condition in large parts of the bloc.

FranceAgriMer estimated that winter barley conditions were also at their poorest since 2020, with 67% of crops rated good/excellent, down slightly from 68% the previous week and 71% when FranceAgriMer resumed its ratings mid-February.

Spring barley sowings accelerated after a slow start, with 82% of the expected area sown against 48% a week earlier, but still running well behind average. Spring barley sowings are usually nearly over by this time of year.

Weather forecasts pointed to rainy weather in the next two weeks in France.

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