Hungary's wheat crop is expected around 4.7 million tonnes, down by 8 percent from last year, and grains harvesting will start at the end of the week in good weather, the Agriculture Ministry said on Monday.
The weather has generally turned sunny and dry, ideal for harvesting, but scattered storms hit areas that were already flooded after a wet spring, and water still stood on 200,000 hectares as of mid-June, Department Chief Ferenc Hinora said. "The (hot weather) is helping ripening, this weather is excellent for harvesting," Hinora told Reuters.
"There has been a hot spell, but in those (flooded) areas the situation has not improved due to local storms." The ministry sees average wheat yields falling to 4.3 tonnes per hectare, from 4.5 last year, on a total area of 1.082 million hectares, down slightly from 1.13 million in 2005. "The other grains planted in the autumn, such as rye and triticale, will have yields similar to last year," Hinora said.
The autumn-planted barley crop will also be around last year's as yields are seen down a touch at 3.9 tonnes per hectare but on a slightly higher area. The rapeseed crop is expected to rise to 331,000 tonnes from 281,000 last year, Hinora said.
Hungary's silos are already holding millions of tonnes of stocks after two big crops in a row, and the landlocked eastern European country accounts for nearly half the EU's grain intervention offers.
Farmers planted maize on around 1.2 million hectares, around the same as last year, which brought a record 9 million tonnes, a third of which ended up in the EU's surplus stores, Hinora said, adding that current weather was good for maize.
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