Wheat production in Germany, the European Union’s second-largest grower, will rise less than expected in March because the long winter and lack of rain are expected to have hurt yields, Deutscher Raiffeisenverband e.V. said.
German farmers will harvest 24.58 million metric tons of wheat in 2011, up 2.2 percent from 24.05 million tons in 2010, the Berlin-based agriculture association said on its website today. That is less than the 2.6 percent gain forecast in March.
Crops in Germany need rain in coming weeks after a dry March, the EU’s Monitoring Agricultural Resources unit said in a report dated April 12. Wheat and rapeseed planting was delayed last year after a wet fall.
“Field crops sown in the fall of 2010 are still slightly behind in vegetation after the unusually long winter, and vegetative development in many regions is anything but optimal because of the sparse rainfall in March and April,” DRV said.
Total grain production is forecast to slide 0.5 percent to 44.06 million tons, compared with last month’s outlook for a 0.1-percent decline.
Barley Harvest
Winter soft-wheat output in Germany will climb 2.1 percent to 24.23 million tons, 98,000 tons less than forecast a month ago. The average yield is forecast at 7.42 tons per hectare (2.47 acres), 30 kilograms (66 pounds) less than previously expected.
Germany’s barley harvest will fall 8.9 percent to 9.49 million tons, the DRV said, compared with a 8.4 percent decline expected in March.
The German rapeseed crop, Europe’s biggest, will slump 9.4 percent to 5.2 million tons as the planted area and yields slide, the group said. In March, rapeseed production had been forecast to decline 5.5 percent.
Corn production was raised and is forecast to climb 5.3 percent to 4.29 million tons in 2011 on increased yields, compared with a previous outlook for the harvest to rise 4.4 percent.
France is the EU’s largest wheat grower.
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