France: State of soft wheat and winter barley crop slightly down

The state of recently sown French soft wheat and winter barley crops declined slightly last week, though nearly all crops remained in good condition, data from farm office FranceAgriMer showed on November 28.

For soft wheat, France’s main cereal crop, 97 percent of emerged crops were rated as being in good or excellent condition by November 24, down from 98 percent a week earlier but well above the 87 percent recorded a year ago, the office said in a cereal report. For winter barley, the good/excellent rating fell to 96 percent from 98 percent the previous week but was still above 84 percent a year earlier. France, the European Union’s biggest grain producer, experienced its coldest spell of the autumn so far last week, with frosts across the country. However, traders said the negative Celsius temperatures were unlikely to have damaged crops.

Farmers are wrapping up sowing of soft wheat and winter barley, with planting 98 percent and 99 percent complete, respectively, by Monday, FranceAgriMer said. Sowing of durum wheat, the variety used for pasta, was 80 percent complete versus 69 percent a week earlier, it said.