December 13, 2011

French soft-wheat planting area to increase 1.6%

France's soft-wheat planting area is expected to increase by 1.6%, according to the estimates unveiled by national crops office FranceAgriMer.

According to Bloomberg, the area growing all soft-wheat varieties for harvesting next year will climb to 5.07 million hectares (12.5 million acres) from 4.99 million hectares harvested this year, the Montreuil-sous-Bois-based office said in an online report.

The outlook compares with a forecast by the Agriculture Ministry for planting of winter soft wheat to climb to 5.06 million hectares. Overwintering varieties typically account for more than 99% of soft-wheat production in France, the EU's largest grower and exporter.

Durum-wheat planting, both winter and spring varieties, will climb 2.8% to 429,050 hectares, according to FranceAgriMer. Winter barley is expected to cover 1.07 million hectares, up 0.9%, the crop office report shows.