June 21, 2011

 

Italy's wheat yield to further drop this year

 

 

Italy's wheat harvest is anticipated to fall more than 10% this year after a wet winter brought a significant drop in planted areas, farmers group Coldiretti said based on official estimates.

 

"There will be a fall in wheat output due to smaller planted areas. There was a lot of rain (during the winter) and it was impossible to sow," Coldiretti's grains expert Paolo Abballe said Monday (Jun 20).

 

Soft wheat plantings fell to 450,000 hectares (ha) in the summer 2011 harvest from 525,000 ha in 2010, Abballe said, citing preliminary estimates by Italy's Agriculture Ministry and research centre ISMEA.

 

Durum wheat sown area fell to about 1.1 million ha from 1.286 million ha last year, while corn plantings are estimated to rise to more than one million ha from 925,000 ha in 2010, Abballe said.

 

Dry weather in May has not caused any serious damage to wheat's quality and yields per hectare are expected to be in line with last year's, he said.

 

Soft wheat yields are estimated at about 5.3 tonnes per ha, while yields of durum wheat used for making pasta are seen at 3.2 tonnes per ha, he said adding it was too early to give forecasts of corn yields.

 

Barley plantings are estimated to edge down to 261,000 ha from 270,000 ha in 2010, he said.
 

Oilseeds are estimate to expand sown areas, with sunflower plantings rising to 110,000 ha from 100,000 ha and soy plantings jumping to 253,000 ha from 200,000-220,000 ha last year, he said.

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