Wheat sowing in France, the EU's top producer and exporter of the cereal, has slowed sharply and analysts say farmers may not be able to complete all planned sowings.

Winter cereal and oilseed crops in the European Union are generally in good condition, despite heavy rain in some regions that has hampered sowing, the EU's crop monitoring unit said."Winter wheat experienced some sowing delays in France, but these were compensated by rapid early development and conditions were particularly favourable for sowing in eastern European and the southern Mediterranean region," the MARS unit said in a monthly report issued on Monday.Wheat sowing in France, the EU's top producer and exporter of the cereal, has slowed sharply and analysts say farmers may not be able to complete all planned sowings.Sowing of durum wheat had also been delayed by wet weather in France and also Italy, MARS said. Winter barley was generally healthy after favourable conditions for sowing that was drawing to a close, it said. In oilseeds, sowing of winter rapeseed benefited from good conditions in top producers France, Germany, Poland and Britain."The subsequent weather conditions suggest that rapeseed crops are now well established and developed, and are ready to withstand the winter," MARS said.Regarding this year's maize harvest, which has been slowed by the recent rain in western regions, MARS left its EU-wide yield estimate little changed at 6.90 tonnes per hectare compared with 6.88 tonne in its October report. This is up from 6.05 tonnes in 2012.

Source - http://agri.eu/