May 29, 2009

German farmers' association Deutscher Raiffeisenverband Thursday (May 28) slightly increased its 2009 grain harvest forecast due to heavy rainfall over the past weeks.

German farmers now expect a 5.4 percent decline on the year to 47.4 million tonnes from a previous forecast of 47.3 million tonnes, the association said

It still predicts the average 2009 grain yield to be down nearly 4 percent on the year at 6.84 tonnes a hectare. The area under cultivation has shrunk by around 1.5 percent or 100,000 hectares, DRV said.

The association expects rapeseed yield up to 10 percent lower in northeastern regions while in the Southwest, it predicts it will match the previous year's.

The rapeseed yield is forecast to reach 3.63 tonnes/hectare on average, which is 1.4 tonnes or 4 percent below the 2008. Rapeseed harvest should increase 2.8% to 5.13 million tonnes due to a 6.6 percent increase in planted area, DRV said.