February 16, 2010

EU expected to plant less corn and sunflower

Vilmorin & Cie., Europe's second-largest seed company, expects European farmers to plant less corn and fewer sunflowers this spring after the winter-wheat area expanded in some countries.

European corn plantings are expected to drop 2% in 2010, while the Chappes, France-based company expect a "slight contraction" in sunflower plantings, chief financial officer Daniel Jacquemond said.

Farmers in France raised winter-grain plantings by 2.1%, the country's Agriculture Ministry reported last week, leaving a smaller area available for spring-planted crops. France is the EU's largest corn grower.

Sales in the fiscal second quarter through December fell 5.7 percent to EUR166 million (US$229 million), Vilmorin said. Field-crop seed sales fell 19% as "satisfactory" demand for rapeseed failed to make up for a decline in wheat and barley.

Farmers in Russia, Ukraine and Turkey bought less wheat seed as they "focused enormously" on using grain retained from the 2009 harvest to plant their fields, Jacquemond said.

The French company said it will form a joint venture with Argentina's DonMario Semillas to develop wheat seed.