Germany will harvest 26.03 million tonnes of wheat this year, down 1.9 percent from a hefty crop in 2015, French consultancy Agritel said on Tuesday, basing its estimate on a crop tour carried out in early July. Concerns have mounted in the second-largest producer that crops could have been impacted by adverse weather conditions such as in top producer France where analysts predict a sharp fall in yields linked to heavy rainfall in the spring.
"Wheat conditions in Germany are heterogeneous with more humid regions in the southwest and others hit by drought in the northeast. However, a majority of the crops is satisfactory in most producing regions," Agritel said in a statement. In its first estimate for the upcoming harvest, the consultancy said it expected the average yield at 8.06 tonnes per hectare, slightly higher than the five-year average, but below those seen in 2014 and last year when German farmers harvested their second-largest wheat crop on record.
Germany's wheat crop is almost entirely made up of soft wheat. Harvest is expected to start by the end of the month. Agritel warned that rainfall forecasts for the coming two weeks in Germany could hamper the wheat crops' quality. Agritel's German crop tour was conducted between July 4 and July 8.
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