EU maize crop’s rebound hurt by small area, dry weather
The European Union’s maize crop is on track to rebound from last year’s disastrous harvest but 2023 prospects have been hit by lower sowings and dry spring weather, with forecasts of more dryness to come threatening final yields, analysts said.
A severe drought last year ravaged maize (corn) harvests, deterring many farmers from sowing the grain this year, with the 2023 area expected to fall to a five-year low, Benoit Fayaud, crop analyst at Strategie Grains said.
The French consultancy last month cut its maize crop estimate by 900,000 metric tons to 61.2 million metric tons and it plans to reduce it further to take account of the dry weather forecasts.
“This confirms that the rebound in production compared to the very bad crop last year will ultimately be very moderate, also because of the small area, with additional downside potential if there is really no rain in July,” Fayaud said.
“If the conditions remain dry throughout July, we could consider dropping quickly below 60 million,” he added.
Romania could regain its position as the largest maize producer in the EU after a sharper drop in area in France although it will depend on final yields.
Romanian consultancy AGRIColumn pegged the maize crop there at 14 million metric tons, but its founder Cezar Gheorghe told Reuters he would downsize it due to drought in the Moldova and Dobrogea regions.
The French farm ministry last month cut its grain maize sowing estimate to 1.23 million hectares, nearly 9% lower than last year’s level and 15% below the five-year average.
In Germany, recent rain after extreme dryness in May and June was too late to prevent damage to crops, the German farming association DBV said. Maize still needed more rain to achieve a decent growth level, it said.
DBV expects Germany’s grain maize crop to fall 20% on the year to 3.58 million metric tons.
Maize plantings had been reduced partly as Germany’s mild winter reduced the need to replant frost-damaged grains.
In Poland, the picture was looking better after rain, said Wojtek Sabaranski of analysts Sparks Polska.
“In most regions, corn plants haven’t seriously suffered from the lack of rain. Recent rains across the country were beneficial to corn plantations, but it is the weather in July that will be most crucial,” he said.
He forecasts Poland’s maize crop at 7.1 million metric tons, down 8% from a record crop harvested in 2022, as farmers planted smaller acreage to corn than last year.
(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide in Paris, Michael Hogan in Hamburg and Luiza Ilie in Bucharest; editing by Robert Birsel)
Source Link: https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/eu-maize-crops-rebound-hurt-by-small-area-dry-weather
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