PARIS: Ratings for France’s main wheat crop improved slightly last week but remained close to last year’s rain-hit levels while spring barley sowings continued to outpace previous years, data from farm office FranceAgriMer showed on Friday.
Ratings of soft wheat showed 74% of the crop in good or excellent condition by March 3, up from 73% the previous week, FranceAgriMer said in a cereal crop report.
The rating was the second-lowest in the past five years after the 68% score a year ago when torrential rain set France on course for its smallest wheat harvest since the 1980s.
Soft wheat conditions deteriorated between December and February, with a wet January keeping some fields waterlogged after last year’s repeated rain.
Drier conditions are expected in France’s key grain-growing regions over the next two weeks, but farmers and analysts worry that some wheat and winter barley crops have already suffered serious damage.
The good-to-excellent rating for winter barley also edged up to 70% from 69% the previous week, though it remains the lowest since 2020, FranceAgriMer’s data showed.
Spring barley sowing was 65% complete as of Monday, up from 56% the previous week and well ahead of the 28% a year earlier. The pace of sowing also exceeded the five-year average of 55% for that week.
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