August 16, 2013
Germany sets for a bigger rapeseed harvest this summer
Despite expectations for a sharp fall in French and British output due to poor growing conditions, Germany is on course to harvest a much bigger rapeseed crop this summer, helping EU production to increase.
EU production of rapeseed, used to make oil for cooking and biodiesel fuel, should reach 20.5 million tonnes this year, up more than one million tonnes on 2012, the USDA and analysts Oil World both estimate.
The overall EU outlook masks the contrasting situation in Western Europe, where harvesting so far has shown lower yields in France but indicate a rebound in Germany from two years of weather-hit harvests.
Growers in France have faced a succession of problems, which analysts say left rapeseed crops too weak to recover yield potential like the French wheat crop seems to have done.
"There was a very bad start - drought at sowing, uneven development, then fungi, weeds and insect pressure, too much rain and a lack of solar rays," one grain analyst said. "Wheat has had more beneficial weather and environment."
The French rapeseed harvest is in its latter stages, and crop estimates have been converging below five million tonnes, down from 5.5 million in 2012. Farm office FranceAgriMer put the crop at 4.5 million tonnes in a harvest update issued late on Monday (Aug 12), based on a national yield of about 3.1 tonnes a hectare.
"In most regions, yields are below 2012 levels and also below the average of the past five years," it said.
Varied yields, which have been a feature of all crop harvests this year, have been particularly marked in rapeseed.
Oilseed institute Cetiom said major production areas including the Centre, the Ile-de-France region around Paris and part of Normandy showed yields of 0.5 to 4.5 tonnes a hectare. A north eastern swathe of France, meanwhile, was showing a one- to five-tonne range, it said.
Traders and analysts had previously put the French crop at near five million tonnes, viewing the farm ministry's 4.4 million forecast as low, but most have scaled back during the harvest.
In addition to lower yields, the French crop has been affected by a decline in area, with dryness preventing some sowings and poor growth leading farmers to dig up some plants.
Traders in Britain have forecast this year's rapeseed crop at around two million tonnes, well below last season's 2.56 million, partly reflecting a drop in planted area. The crop has also struggled to develop due to late drilling, slugs, water-logging and pigeon grazing, which also caused significant damage in France this year.
Harvesting of winter rapeseed is slowly gathering pace with about 30% cut so far, up from about 10% a week ago, analyst Susan Twining of UK crop consultants ADAS said.
The harvest in Germany, set to be the EU's largest rapeseed producer this year, has advanced rapidly northwards in favourable weather and could end later this week if dry conditions hold.
"Germany is on course for a much larger harvest this year, returning production around the long-term average after weather damage to the crops in the last two years," one analyst said.
Among leading forecasters, the German Farmers' Association, traditionally conservative in its estimates, expects a crop of 5.5 million tonnes, up from 4.82 million tonnes in 2012.
Oil World put the crop at 5.75 million tonnes, while grain trader Toepfer forecast 6.04 million tonnes.
