May 11, 2011

EU drought likely to last till end of May

The EU's largest wheat producers, France and neighboring Germany, are continuing to suffer from the ongoing drought which is likely to last till the end of May.

Analysts said Poland and Britain ares also under threat from the drought while the Black Sea region remained unaffected and is helping to keep prices under control.

France, the EU's largest wheat grower, just had its second hottest April since 1900 and one of the driest since 1953, the country's Agriculture Ministry reported this week.

The EU wheat harvest fell 2.4% last year to 135.4 million tonnes, the London-based International Grains Council estimates, on a world wheat crop of 649.6 million tonnes.

The council last month cut its outlook for world production in 2011-12 by one million tonnes to 672 million tonnes as dry weather in the US and the EU affects crops. Long dry spells across large parts of Europe has created drought conditions threatening cereal crops but is expected to break in the second half of May, experts said.

The World Meterological Organisation said drought conditions after a dry spell over large parts of Europe since January were also affecting Rhine River shipping and risked wildfires in Germany.

Attention on drought risk is sharper than ever after a sizzling summer last year ravaged Russian and Ukrainian wheat harvests and marked the start of a jump in world food prices.

The cause for the dry spell now was a high pressure ridge over western and central Europe, deflecting Atlantic wet weather, say experts who forecast wetter conditions in late May.