Not the much-discussed French harvest, but the yield reduction in Italy and Spain are the cause of the smaller European wheat harvest. On top of that comes the decline in Ukraine, according to the most recent MARS bulletin from the European Union.
According to the committee, the hectare yield of common wheat is 00.5 tons lower, at 5.86 tons per hectare. The update comes at a time when there are significant concerns about the impact of the dry and hot weather conditions on France's crop, the largest in the EU. However, the French estimate for wheat is still kept at 6.77 tons per hectare, winter barley has been adjusted upwards by 0.41 tons per hectare to 6.17 tons.
Lower grain weight
Mars focuses in his report more on the damage of the exceptionally hot and dry weather in a number of other countries. This concerns Italy, which sees the soft wheat yield decrease with 0.44 tons per hectare to 5.37 tons per hectare. Temperatures have been consistently above average in almost the entire country from 11 May. This left the grain weight behind.
Winter cereals hit hard
For Spain, the soft wheat outlook has shrunk further by 0.31 tons per hectare to 2.66 tons of primal hectares. This means that the harvest is 31 percent lower than last year's. The particularly dry conditions during the growing season have hit expectations for winter cereals hard. According to the agency, temperature statistics in Portugal and Spain in May and June are among the highest in the past 4 decades. For wheat and barley, this came exactly when the grain filling took place.
French harvest estimated lower
Incidentally, the French harvest expectation is still 26% higher than last year when the persistent against the harvest hit hard and only slightly below the average result of 7.07 tons per hectare. But, according to the committee, the harvest could turn out to be even lower due to the recent temperature rise.
Frost damage in Ukraine
Furthermore, Mars lowered wheat forecasts for Ukraine by 0.37 tons per hectare to 3.91 tons per hectare. While concerns about possible frost damage are fading, a rain shortage in central Ukraine is negatively affecting winter cereals and spring barley. For Russia, the yield outlook is lower than the previous record year, but still good.