HAMBURG (Reuters) — Germany will harvest 23.9 million tonnes of winter wheat in 2013, up from the 22.38 million tonnes harvested in 2012, the German Farmers Association DBV said on Thursday in its harvest estimate.
The association forecast Germany’s 2013 rapeseed crop will rise to 5.6 million tonnes from the weather-reduced 4.80 million tonnes in 2012.
The association’s harvest forecasts are traditionally conservative.
“We can be satisfied with the harvest,” Wolfgang Vogel, chairman of the DBV’s grains committee, said in a statement.
Grains had suffered from the exceptionally long winter, which delayed the start of the harvest 10-14 days, he said.
Read Also
U.S. grains: Soybean futures jump on hopes for US export demand
Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures jumped on hopes for U.S. export demand on Wednesday, while corn futures rose for a third day to extend a recovery from contract lows, analysts said.
The rapeseed crop had recovered to normal levels after weather damage last year.
Rain in the past two weeks had delayed wheat harvesting in the final northern and eastern regions of Germany and work is still underway, the DBV said in its report.
“Wheat protein content is often disappointing,” it said. “This was caused by the heavy rainfall in spring which had a washing impact on soils.”
Harvesting of winter barley, a key animal feed, is now complete and the crop has risen to about 8.2 million tonnes from 7.0 million tonnes last year, the association said.
The crop of spring barley, used for malt and beer output, is likely to fall to 1.97 million tonnes from 3.3 million tonnes last year because the low level of frost damage to winter grains made it less necessary to replant with spring crops.
German corn had suffered from the long winter and cool spring which delayed growth, it said. High temperatures and dryness in July had also hindered growth.
It was unclear what impact this would have on corn, the association said, and no crop forecast was given.
