EU soft wheat area might fall, durum steady

PARIS, Nov. 16 (Reuters) – Difficult sowing conditions in northern Europe prompted consultancy Strategie Grains to cut its monthly estimate for the area sown with soft wheat for the 2018 crop, with farmers also put off by low prices.
Strategie Grains on Thursday projected ongoing soft wheat sowings in the European Union would reach 23.5 million hectares, compared with the 23.8 million estimated last month and 23.7 million sown ahead of the 2017 harvest.
“The 2018 harvest has been negatively affected by current low wheat prices and bad conditions at planting time in northern Europe (Scandinavia, Baltic States),” the consultancy said in its monthly report.

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“Ultimately, conditions did not improve in Germany and Poland, where farmers were unable to fulfill their original sowing intentions.”
The area sown with durum, the niche wheat variety used to make pasta, was still expected to be almost stable year on year, at 2.8 million hectares, as an increased area in Italy offset small reductions in France and Spain.
Germany suffered repeated rain this autumn, especially in September and October, which made the land too soft for tractors to drive on. This also led to a drop in rapeseed sowings, German oilseeds industry group UFOP said.
Strategie Grains kept its barley area estimate nearly unchanged at 12.4 million, which would represent a 2 percent rise from last year’s 12.1 million hectares.
“Spring barley accounts for this acreage growth, which picks up additional acreage for 2018 as a result of the arduous conditions for winter cereal sowings in north Europe and the current favourable price context for barley,” it said.
The EU’s grain corn area was projected to fall to 8.5 million hectares, unchanged from last month’s estimate and down from 8.7 million in 2017/18.
“Once again, grain maize’s (corn) attractiveness to farmers has been hit by this crop’s weak competitive position,” Strategie Grains said.