France sees stable sugar beet area in 2018

PARIS: France's farm ministry on Tuesday estimated that farmers would sow 483,000 hectares of sugar beet for the 2018 harvest, little changed from 486,000 hectares in 2017.

* In a crop report, the ministry estimated total wheat sowings in 2018, including a small amount of spring wheat, at 4.98 million hectares, also little changed from 4.96 million in 2017.

* The total barley area was pegged at 1.85 million hectares, down from 1.91 million hectares last year. This included 502,000 hectares of spring barley, down slightly from 508,000 hectares last year.

* The ministry also revised upwards its estimate of 2017 sugar beet production to a new record of 46.3 million tonnes, compared with 45.8 million estimated in February.