Poland's grain output may rise by 0.6 million tonnes this year to 27.5 million tonnes, with exceptionally hot weather in recent days unlikely to cause serious damage, the country's grain chamber said on Tuesday.
Temperatures in the biggest central European grain producer topped 30 degrees Celsius and the scarcity of rain sparked concerns among some farmers that this year's harvest could fall sharply below the 26.9 million tonnes harvested last year.
"I am not surprised that some say we are hit by drought because such temperatures are not normal in Poland, but if there are any problems, they will rather concern only particular regions of the country," Bogdan Judzinski, head of the Polish Grain Chamber, told Reuters.
"We have to remember that this year we entered the summer period in a better condition than last year and the sown area is slightly bigger, so we assume production will rise to 27.5 million tonnes," he said.
Judzinski said western and northern Poland, the regions traditionally producing the most cereals, were less affected by the heat than eastern parts of the country.
Last year summer drought in several regions was the main reason behind a 9 percent fall in grain output. Judzinski also predicted rapeseed production should increase to 1.68 million tonnes this year from 1.49 million last year.
He said the chamber's latest estimates showed the use of grain for animal feed would rise slightly to 17.2 million tonnes in the 2006/07 season that began this month.
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