EU sees main cereal crops to rise

The European Union should see a rise in yields for its main cereal crops this year after plants came through winter without frost damage and with regular rain boosting soil moisture, the EU crop monitoring unit MARS said on Monday. For soft wheat, the EU's largest crop, the combined average yield for the bloc's 27 members is expected to rise to 5.65 tonnes a hectare this year, up 4.5 percent from 5.41 tonnes in 2012, MARS said in a monthly report.
This would be 0.3 percent above the average of the past five years. For barley, the combined yield would reach 4.46 tonnes a hectare, 2.3 percent higher than last year's 4.37 tonnes. This would include a 2.6 percent rise for spring barley to 3.97 tonnes, and a 0.8 percent fall to 5.24 tonnes for winter barley. For maize, planting of which is yet to start in earnest, the crop unit forecast a 16.7 percent jump in the average EU yield to 6.96 tonnes a hectare from 5.96 tonnes.