PARIS, France (Reuters) — Prospects for the European soft wheat harvest have deteriorated sharply because of worse-than-forecast damage from torrential spring rain, prompting analysts to cut crop estimates in top grower France to their lowest in 13 years.
As well, continuing rain in Germany and Poland is harming quality there.
The ODA consultancy has put the French wheat crop at below 30 million tonnes, while Agritel said it was working on the basis of a crop below 32 million.
France produced about 41 million tonnes last year.
Wheat on the Euronext exchange rallied sharply, increasing the spreads between it and the Chicago market to the widest since 2014 on July 22.
