February 22, 2013

UK wheat output affected by heavy rain

Heavy rain and saturated soil may have severe effects on wheat and rapeseed output in western Europe in 2013 with the most serious problems.

The outlook in top producer France is also deteriorating.

"There are an awful lot of crops out there that are still under water, lots of patches of waterlogging and lots of very slow growing crops," analyst Susan Twining of crop consultants ADAS said, referring to conditions in Britain, the third-largest wheat producer in the EU.

Analyst Strategie Grains lowered its outlook for soft wheat output in Britain and France by 1.4 million tonnes.

Britain had its second-wettest year on record in 2012, disrupting both the harvest and subsequent planting of winter crops, and the rain has continued into 2013.

Forecasts indicate the weather in Britain may become drier in the next few days which may lead farmers to decide whether to invest more money in their winter crops by applying fertiliser and herbicides, or abandon them.

In France, wet conditions were causing concern about crop losses and delays to spring planting in some areas, although the situation was generally much more satisfactory than rain-soaked Britain.

Rapeseed plants continued to be seen as most at risk of losses after crops endured both dry sowing conditions in late summer and damp growing weather in autumn and winter.