EU wheat, barley area to rise next year

European Union farmers are expected to sow more wheat and barley for next year's harvest, helping push up the total cereal area, but maize could lose ground, Strategie Grains analysts said. In its first area projections for the 2018 harvest, France-based Strategie Grains estimated that the overall area sown with cereals would increase by 0.7 percent to 56.1 million hectares from 55.7 million this year.
Sowings of soft wheat, the EU's most produced cereal, were expected to increase 0.5 percent compared with this year, Strategie Grains said in a monthly report on EU cereals. Winter and spring barley were also expected to gain ground, with increases of 1 percent and 3 percent, respectively, but the grain maize (corn) area was projected to fall by 1.5 percent, Strategie Grains said. Durum wheat, the variety used in pasta, would show a stable area, it said.
Strategie Grains did not give hectare estimates for each cereal crop. The soft wheat area would be supported by difficult sowing conditions for rapeseed in northern Europe, which could lead some farmers to switch to wheat despite less attractive prices than for rapeseed, it said. Soft wheat may also recover area in Spain and the Baltic states after high abandonment levels this year, it added.
Winter barley was seen as being slightly more attractive than wheat for farmers while sowing conditions so far have been favourable, except in northern Europe. Spring barley was tipped to benefit from difficulties in sowing rapeseed and, to a lesser extent, winter wheat in the Baltic and Scandinavian countries, Strategie Grains said.
The expected drop in grain maize area reflected a relatively weak competitive position versus other crops, it said. The total area sown with oilseeds such as rapeseed was projected to be stable at 12.3 million hectares. Set-aside crop area in the EU was projected to decrease to 5.3 million hectares, from 5.6 million this year when countries such as the Baltic states, Finland and Spain saw high abandonment rates for crops, Strategie Grains said.