March 9, 2012

Cold snap may cut French wheat yield by a million tonnes

Severe winter weather in February could slash France's 2012 wheat crop by about one million tonnes or about 3% after plants were damaged in some areas.   

Parts of eastern and northeast France could lose 5-10% of the area sown with winter soft wheat, analysts Agritel and Offre & Demande Agricole (ODA) said in its first estimates of losses based on surveys of farmers.   

France harvested about 34 million tonnes of wheat last year and initial projections from analysts had called for a bigger crop in 2012 due to a larger area sown and after a spring drought dented yields in the last crop.