French soft wheat crop ratings stable

PARIS: Farm office FranceAgriMer estimated in a weekly report on Friday that 79pc of soft wheat in France, the European Union's biggest crop producer, were in good or excellent condition by May 20, unchanged from a week earlier.

That compared with an 80pc score for soft wheat crops at the same stage last year.

FranceAgriMer rated 76pc of French winter barley as good/excellent, up from 75pc a week earlier, while the equivalent spring barley rating was stable at 88pc.

For grain maize, the good/excellent score declined to 81pc from 83pc. Sowing of grain maize was 99pc complete versus 97pc a week earlier.