French soft wheat sowing nearly at standstill, ratings fall
French winter grain sowings came to a near standstill and crop ratings fell in France last week, data from farm office FranceAgriMer showed on Friday, after prolonged rainfall in the European Union’s biggest grain grower.
French farmers had sown 74% of the expected soft wheat area for next year’s harvest by Nov. 20, compared with 71% a week earlier, the office said in a crop report. By the same time last year sowings were virtually complete at 98%.
The amount of soft wheat in good or excellent condition stood at 83%, down from 86% last week and 91% a week earlier, FranceAgriMer said.
Heavy rainfall in France has hampered grain sowing in many parts of the European Union’s largest grain grower, which was likely to lead to a drop in yields, technical institute Arvalis has said.
Winter barley sowings were 86% by Monday, compared with 84% the previous week. Crop conditions also declined, dropping to 85% good to excellent, from 86% last week and 98% last year, FranceAgriMer said.
Maize harvesting had made little progress, edging up to 98% from 97% a week earlier. Harvesting was complete at the same stage of 2022.
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