French soft wheat rated “good” or “excellent” rose in the seven days ended May 29 from a week earlier as barley and corn conditions also improved, crop office FranceAgriMer reported.
Soft wheat with top ratings increased to 70 percent from 69 percent in the previous week, the Montreuil-sous-Bois, France- based office reported on its website today. That compares with 24 percent rated “good” or “excellent” a year ago, when a spring drought hurt the crop.
Rain in April and May aided grain in France, the European Union’s largest grower, after a dry start to the year. The outlook for French soft-wheat yields was raised to 7.19 metric tons a hectare (2.47 acres) from 7.04 tons in April on improved conditions, the EU’s crop-forecasting unit reported this week.
The ratings are the average for eight regions representing 54 percent of French soft-wheat production, according to the crop office. France accounted for 5.2 percent of the world wheat harvest in 2011-12, based on International Grains Council data.
Durum wheat rated “good” or “excellent” rose to 60 percent from 57 percent, based on three regions making up 58 percent of French production, the data show.
Winter barley rated “good” or “excellent” climbed 2 percentage points to 65 percent, based on crops in seven regions that produce 56 percent of average national output. That compares with 63 percent in the week-ago period, the data show.
For spring barley, the grain rated “good” or “excellent” rose to 83 percent. The ratings are based on data from five regions that on average grow 47 percent of the French crop, according to FranceAgriMer.
Corn conditions also improved, with 69 percent of the crop getting top ratings, from 64 percent a week earlier, it said.
Source: Bloomberg