October 15, 2007

France's 2007/08 grain output at 58.6 million tonnes

French 2007/08 cereal output was forecast Friday (October 12) at 58.6 million tonnes, down from last month's projection of 59.0 million tonnes, and a drop of 5.1 percent on the year.

This forecast is also down 8.7 percent compared with the previous five-year average, data from the French Ministry for Agriculture and Fisheries showed.

Most of the downward adjustment was made in the soft wheat crop. The ministry now estimates soft wheat output at 31.3 million tonnes, down slightly from the September estimate of 31.7 million tonnes. This is also a 6 percent drop on the year and a fall of 9.1 percent from the five-year average.

Barley production was nearly unchanged from last month's estimate at 9.5 million tonnes, which is 9 percent fall on the year.

The ministry estimated a 1.6 percent rise in corn output on the year to 13.1 million tonnes. However, this is down 8.2 percent from the previous five-year-average.