Rain threatens the quality of Germany's 2014 wheat harvest but it is set to gather a larger rapeseed crop, German farmers' association DBV said in a harvest report on Wednesday.

Germany is the European Union's second largest wheat producer and exporter after France and in most years the EU's largest producer of rapeseed, Europe's most important oilseed for edible oil and biodiesel production.

German farmers are likely to harvest 5.8 million tonnes of winter rapeseed in 2014, up from 5.7 million tonnes in 2013, the DBV said in a harvest report.

This was up from 5.7 million tonnes the association forecast on July 7 for this year's winter rapeseed crop.

German rapeseed and wheat harvesting is currently underway but is being repeatedly interrupted by rain, the report said.

"It is only in consistently dry weather conditions that winter wheat can be harvested quickly and above all with the quality hoped for," the association said.

Repeated rain in Germany in the last week has made grain too wet to harvest and some farmers will have to undertake expensive drying of their newly harvested grain to prevent quality loss, the association said.

Rain has knocked grain over in some areas, threatening loss of both quality and crop size, it said.

In north German areas, important production areas for wheat exports, weather has been dryer and crops appear in better condition, it said.

Rain again fell in much of Germany on Wednesday. Thursday is forecast to be dry but rain is again expected from Friday to Sunday, television channel ZDF said.

About two-thirds of Germany's rapeseed has now been harvested, the association said.

Farmers are achieving rapeseed yields of around 4.1 tonnes a hectare, it said. Last year's yields averaged around 3.9 tonnes.

Wheat yields vary greatly in the areas harvested so far, it said. The winter barley harvest, used for animal feed, is almost completed.

Source - http://in.reuters.com/