French wheat harvest 76 percent complete

The soft wheat harvest in France was 76 percent complete as of July 28, against 44 percent a week earlier, data from farm office FranceAgriMer showed on Friday, suggesting farmers made good progress before heavy rain last weekend.
Grain markets have been watching closely the French harvest after repeated rain during July led to poor crop quality in some regions and raised the risk that France, the European Union's top wheat producer, will lose export sales.
Harvest progress remained well ahead of the pace last year when 26 percent of the crop had been gathered by July 28, the data showed.
Harvesting of other cereals also advanced swiftly last week. For spring barley, 67 percent of the area had been harvested by July 28, up from 15 percent a week earlier.