France's farm ministry said on Wednesday it expected the area sown with spring barley ahead of the 2011 harvest to rise by 7.3 percent compared with last year at 450,000 hectares. This first estimate for the spring barley area brought total barley sowings (winter and spring) at 1.55 million hectares for the 2011 crop, down 2.2 percent from the previous year, and more than 10 percent lower than the 2006-2010 average, data showed.
The ministry also gave its first outlook for the French sugar beet area seen gaining 1.9 percent in the 2011/2012 season at 391,000 hectares. That would be a rise of 4 percent on the 5-year average. The ministry raised its estimate for the area sown with winter rapeseed at 1.52 million hectares, from 1.5 million in its February forecast. Winter rapeseed accounts for nearly all the French rapeseed area, also pegged at 1.52 million hectares. SSP said three out of four region had higher rapeseed area. The area sown with soft wheat, made up almost entirely of winter wheat, was unchanged at 5.0 million hectares, up 1.7 percent above the 2010 level.