HAMBURG, Nov 27 (Reuters) – An exceptionally warm autumn and early winter has helped European Union wheat to develop but there is concern growth may be too fast, making plants vulnerable to frost damage.
“Wheat sowings went well in most regions, so we have successfully jumped the first hurdle on the way to the 2015 harvest,” one trader said. “But the remarkably warm weather may have pushed growth too far in several countries and if the winter suddenly turns very cold frost damage could be a larger worry than usual.”
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French consultancy Strategie Grains estimates the EU’s soft wheat sown area at about the same as last year’s record 59.8 million acres, helped by good sowing-time weather.
France, the EU’s largest wheat producer, is among countries concerned that rapid growth could make wheat frost-vulnerable.
French farmers are hoping for slightly lower winter temperatures to put wheat into dormancy. Meanwhile, the current crop picture is good, with 93 percent of French wheat rated in good or excellent condition against 83 percent a year earlier, farm agency FranceAgriMer said.
Strategie Grains estimates France’s soft wheat area for 2015 harvesting as unchanged from last year at 12.35 million acres.
In the EU’s second-largest producer, Germany, wheat has also grown unusually quickly. “Sowings went generally well, but November temperatures have been very warm and plants are sometimes too far developed before the winter dormant stage,” one German analyst said. “They would not have normal resistance to hard frosts.”
A slight increase in the sowed area of German winter wheat, against 7.66 million acres harvested in 2014, is expected as German farmers turn away from less profitable rapeseed, he said.
In Britain, the EU’s third-largest producer, the Home-Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA) said the wheat area is expected to decline five percent as farmers turn to barley and pulses.
“We have had a nice mixture of dry weather and more recently some rainfall to help the crop along,” said HGCA lead cereals analyst Jack Watts. “Generally everyone is pretty optimistic (about crop prospects).”
But in Poland, the fourth-largest producer, there could be a slight reduction in the planted area of winter wheat after drought disrupted ploughing and delayed growth, said Wojtek Sabaranski, of analyst Sparks Polska.
