Rains bring relief to parched west Europe wheat

Rains over the last few days have brought limited relief to wheat crops in parched regions of west Europe although many plants remain in poor condition. Crop experts said the outlook has improved in some regions such as north Germany although in the European Union's top producer, France, significant yield losses are still expected.
"There is some rain in some regions but it's more drizzle or showers, not in any way rainfall that will change the course of things," crop expert Jean-Charles Deswarte of France's technical institute Arvalis said.
"We are on a track which is not the good one and we are staying on it," he said.
Arvalis said last week it was expecting an impact of more than 10 percent on French wheat output this year and some operators were expecting an even worse scenario. "There are trade players who see the crop down more like 20 percent at under 30 million tonnes," one trader said.
Offre & Demande Agricole (ODA) has reduced its forecast for France's wheat crop to 31 million tonnes from 33 million two weeks ago and now down about 13 percent on last year's crop, Cedric Weber, analyst with the grain consultancy, said.
"I think the best we can hope for now is that the situation stabilises," he said, adding the only chance of a real improvement was for later-developing crops in the far north. A latest weekly survey by ODA showed 40 percent of wheat plants were now in poor to very poor condition, up from 35 percent a week earlier and ahead of the 35 percent of crops in average condition and the 24 percent good-to-excellent, he said.
The March-May period in France has been the driest in the last 50 years and the hottest since at least 1900, public weather service Meteo France said.
In Germany, the second largest EU wheat producer, recent rain has saved crops from the worst drought impact but the harvest is expected to be down on the year. Rain has helped grain, especially in drought stressed north Germany, the country's largest grain trading house Toepfer said.
"At least average yields can now be expected," Toepfer said in a report. "This equally applies to wheat, barley and rye."
But grains are still suffering from dryness stress in other German regions, especially central and western regions, it said. Toepfer estimates Germany's 2011 wheat harvest will be down on the year at between 22.8-23.3 million tonnes against about 24 million tonnes last year.