PARIS: The condition of French soft wheat edged lower in the week to May 1, while sowing of grain maize continued to run well below average, farm office FranceAgriMer said on Friday.

An estimated 93% of soft wheat was rated good or excellent, down from 94% the previous week but above the 89% registered a year earlier, FranceAgriMer said in a cereal crop report. Sowing of grain maize was 59% complete compared with 44% the previous week, FranceAgriMer said. That was below year-earlier progress of 81% and an average 75% for the past five years.

For winter barley, 92% of the crop was rated good or excellent, up from 91% the previous week and 86% a year earlier. The spring barley rating was unchanged at 94% and above the 88% at the same point in 2022.

For durum wheat, the rating fell to 88% from 89% the previous week, still well above the 83% recorded a year earlier. (Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide; Editing by Jan Harvey,