HAMBURG: Germany's 2020 wheat crop will fall 3.7% on the year to 22.21 million tonnes, the country's association of farm cooperatives said in its latest harvest estimate on Wednesday.

That is slightly lower than the 22.38 million tonnes it forecast in May as some crops suffered from dry springtime weather.

The winter rapeseed crop is seen rising 13.3% from last summer's especially poor crop to 3.20 million tonnes, slightly down from May's estimate of 3.24 million tonnes with rapeseed also suffering from dryness.

Germany is the European Union's second largest wheat producer after France and a major exporter.

The association said it hoped China, which currently doesn't accept German grains for phytosanitary (pest and disease control) reasons, would open its market to imports from the country "in the near future".

It noted other European countries such as France are able to export to China.

"It is high time that this interesting market is

opened to us," the association said.

For the harvest, widespread rain in Germany after the dry spring had helped to stabilise crops but came too late to significantly increase yields, the association said, adding that warm and moist weather also increased the threat of fungal infections for wheat.

The winter barley crop, mostly used for animal feed, will fall 5.2% on the year to 9.25 million tonnes due to reduced sowings, the association forecast.

It said the harvest could begin next week in the early regions if warm and sunny weather continues.

The spring barley crop, used in beer and malt production, will increase 6.1% to 1.94 million tonnes.

The grain maize (corn) crop had benefited from recent rains and was seen will increasing 19.3% to 4.37 million tonnes because of an increase in planted area and an expected yield improvement.-Reuters