FNSEA, the French national farming union, estimates the wheat crop in Europe’s largest agricultural producer will total 30 million tonnes this year, down 26 percent from 2015 due to a rainy and cloudy weather that kept grains from filling, said Farmers Weekly. Besides poor yields, wheat quality has suffered, meaning lower prices for growers.
Farmers Weekly quoted Philippe Pinta, of FNSEA’s wheat branch, as saying, “Cereal growers are facing catastrophes that are difficult to imagine.” Poor-quality wheat will be diverted for use as livestock feed instead of being used for baked goods. “The French agriculture ministry has launched a plan to help the country’s cereal farmers. This includes tax breaks, measures to refund VAT (value-added tax) and help to guarantee banking loans,” said Farmers Weekly, based in Britain.
Reuters said “an unusually large volume of Romanian wheat” was booked for shipment to France in a deal “linked to a spike in French prices amid growing fears of a poor harvest in the European Union’s biggest wheat exporter.” The EU is the world’s largest wheat exporter.
In early July, the USDA forecast a record world wheat crop. It will update its estimates on Aug. 12.