French Soft Wheat to Drop to 34.2 MLN T After Heavy Rains – Agritel

(Agriculture.com) – Soft wheat production in France will fall to 34.17 million tonnes this year, down 6.5 percent from last year’s crop, after heavy rain during the growing season hurt yields, consultancy Agritel said on Friday.

Agritel projected the national yield in the ongoing harvest at 6.92 tonnes per hectare. This would be nearly 7 percent below the average of the past five years when excluding exceptionally high and low harvests in 2015 and 2016, it said.

Heavy rain throughout winter and then during spring hurt crops across France, particularly in the west, it said.

In a reversal of usual trends, areas with deep soils were set to see lower yields than zones with shallow soils, as the latter retained less of the excess moisture, it added.

Forecasters have been scaling back their estimates for the French crop, contributing to growing concern about a weather-hit harvest in Europe. However, opinions have differed widely in France as to the extent of the decline in yields.

Like other market observers, Agritel pointed to good wheat quality in the French harvest, with high readings for test weights and protein – two key measures of milling quality – helped by warm, dry weather in the past month.

Average protein content could surpass 12 percent like last year, in what is a relatively high level for France, it said.

Agritel’s forecast was based on a nationwide survey conducted on July 18-20.