The outlook for Germany's 2013 grains harvest is currently positive with plants so far escaping winter damage in mild weather, the head of giant German agricultural trading co-operative Agravis said, recently. "All the indications are that we will receive a normal harvest," CEO Clemens Grosse Frie told Reuters. "For rapeseed I think we may see an increase as the sown area was expanded."
Agravis is Germany's second-largest agricultural co-operative, trading around 6.5 million tonnes of grains and 1.1 million tonnes of rapeseed annually. Agravis on Thursday posted interim 2012 sales of over 7 billion euros ($9.2 billion), up from 6.5 billion euros in 2011.
Germany's winter has been mild so far with crops receiving sufficient rain, Grosse Frie said. But he cautioned that much could still happen during the rest of the winter, while springtime dryness had hampered German grains in the past. "German farmers are making heavy investment in agricultural machinery which is also an indication of their optimism about the upcoming crop," he said.
West Europe currently has a very mixed grains and rapeseed crop outlook with serious problems looming in Britain, analysts said on Thursday. German farmers expanded both winter wheat and rapeseed sowings for the 2013 crop, the national statistics office forecast on December 20.
Grosse Frie said he expects EU wheat prices to stay in their current range in the near future. "We have seen some weakness since Christmas but Paris wheat prices have ranged between 250-260 (euros) a tonne recently and we do not expect dramatic moves away from these levels," he said. "If anything, there could be more leeway for price falls." "We are seeing improved harvest reports in parts of the world, especially in South America for corn and soybeans. The situation in east Europe is also stable, currently the signs are pointing to a stable harvest this year."
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