PARIS: The condition of French soft wheat was stable last week, with crop ratings holding at a nine-year low, data from farm office FranceAgriMer showed on Friday.

For the week to June 1, 56pc of soft wheat was rated good or excellent, unchanged from the previous week, FranceAgriMer said in a cereal report.

That was down from 80pc a year earlier and the lowest score for the time of year since 2011, when France experienced a severe spring drought.

The stable rating last week suggests soft wheat crops did not suffer further damage during a hot, dry spell that broke in the middle of this week with widespread storms and showers.

However, traders and analysts are not expecting wheat conditions to recover significantly after a dry spring added to growing difficulties created by a water-logged autumn sowing season.

Soft wheat was continuing to show a 12-day advance compared with its average growth pace of the past five years, while winter barley development was running seven days ahead of average, FranceAgriMer said.

There have been reports of some winter barley fields being harvested in southern France this week and traders are also expecting soft wheat harvesting to see a relatively early start in the second half of June.

FranceAgriMer's good/excellent score for winter barley was stable at 52pc, while the spring barley rating fell again, to 55pc from 56pc.

The ratings also marked nine-year lows for the crops.

For grain maize, sowing was now over after being 97pc complete in the previous week, the office said.

For emerged maize crops, the good/excellent score improved to 85pc from 83pc for the prior week and was above a year-earlier score of 82pc.