France: Barley production forecast at 11.8 mln tonnes in 2025

French Ministry of Agriculture’s barley forecast estimate for 2025 is 11.8 million tonnes. This is 19.1% more than last year and 6.2% above the five-year average, UkrAgroConsult reported on July 16.

The winter barley harvest is estimated at 8.4 million tonnes (up 19.5% from last year). The spring barley harvest is expected to be 3.4 million tonnes (up 18.1%).

The ministry has estimated soft wheat production in 2025 at 32.6 million tonnes. The forecast figure is 27% higher than the unsuccessful 2024 for grain growers, when crops were severely damaged by rains.

The ministry’s first forecast for soft wheat for this year generally corresponds to analysts’ estimates in the range of 32-33 million tonnes, Reuters writes.

The department estimates the average yield at 7.26 t/ha versus 6.09 t/ha last year. The estimated area under wheat is 4.49 million hectares versus 4.21 million hectares in 2024.

Thus, the gross harvest in 2025 will likely exceed the five-year average by 2.4%. At the same time, the five-year period includes two lean years, and production growth this year is limited by fairly small sown areas, the ministry emphasized.

The rapeseed forecast is 4.2 million tonnes, which is in line with the June estimate.

The ministry also increased the estimate of corn areas for 2025 to 1.59 million hectares against the June estimate of 1.48 million hectares, which is 0.2% higher than last year and almost 4% higher than the five-year average.