Spain rain adequate for crops

MADRID: Spanish rainfall has been more than adequate for the ongoing winter grain harvest, farmers say, and the latest official data in the major grain importer on Tuesday showed irrigation reserves were above average.

Rain recorded by the Ministry for the Environment and Rural Affairs for the week to June 5 was 82 percent of the historical average but that did not include heavy downpours on Monday and Tuesday.

Rain could harm fully ripe durum wheat and barley which farmers have begun to harvest in warmer southern regions.

However, mild temperatures elsewhere could help the soft wheat crop, said Antonio Caton, a crop technician with co-operatives association Cooperativas Agrarias.

"Rain tends to damage durum above all, lowers its virtuosity and when the heat come you get diseases you can no longer cure," he said.

"(Soft) wheat isn't ripe yet so rain has been very good for the most import wheat-growing region, which is Castilla-Leon."

Spain's Secretary of State for Rural Affairs Josep Puxeu meanwhile predicted Spain's total grain harvest would exceed 20-22 million tonnes, up from 19.7 million last year.

Puxeu expected Spain would still have a deficit of 7-9 million tonnes of grain in the coming market year.

Reservoirs set aside for consumption, including irrigation, stood at 82.3 percent of capacity down from 82.7 percent a week ago but comfortably above an average of 63.4 percent for the past 10 years.

Ministry data meanwhile showed hydropower reservoirs held enough water to generate 15,946 gigawatt-hours, 100 GWh less than last week

With annual demand running at 258,700 GWh, according to national grid operator, that was enough to supply Spain's average electricity needs for 22.5 days.

Heavy rains for the year to date have boosted hydropower output and kept gas-fired plants on standby, thus thwarting a recovery in demand in the world's eighth-biggest natural gas importer.Spain is also the world's fourth-largest importer of liquefied natural gas.

Copyright Reuters, 2011