France: Spring barley area could fall by up to 40% this year

Spring crop sowing in France could fall sharply this year, including a near 40% drop in spring barley area, after exceptionally high levels last year, the French farm ministry said on February 9.

A survey of farmers' intentions for the spring sowing campaign showed that the spring barley area would fall to 500,000 hectares from around 800,000 hectares in 2020 before returning to a more typical level, the ministry said in a crop report.

Farmers planted more spring crops last year after torrential rain in the autumn of 2019 cut winter wheat and barley area.

A fallback in spring sowings has been widely expected after a rebound in winter cereal area for this year's harvest. The ministry on February 9 revised upwards its estimate of the 2021 winter wheat soft area to 4.86 million hectares, now 15% above the previous year.

The spring sowing intentions' survey, carried out in December, also showed that the sunflower area would drop by 25% to 580,000 hectares and be in line with the average of the past five years, the ministry said.

For grain maize (corn), the area was projected to decline by around 18%, it said, without giving a projection of hectares.

Sugar beet plantings could fall to around 400,000 hectares, it said, in a further potential decline after farmers cut back on the crop in recent years due to weak sugar prices.

The farm ministry will issue its first formal estimates of spring sowing in April.

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