Heatwaves and drought in France this summer are expected to lead to a sharp drop in maize and sugar beet production, adding to a wider picture of weather-hit harvests in the European Union's biggest crop grower, the farm ministry said. In a crop report issued on Tuesday, the ministry lowered its estimate of the 2018 grain maize crop, excluding seeds, to 12.4 million tonnes from 12.8 million forecast last month, putting production 12.8 percent below the 2017 level.
In its first projection for the sugar beet harvest, it forecast output of 41.1 million tonnes, down 11.1 percent from 46.3 million last year.
Harvesting of maize and sugar beet is underway in France.
"Summer crops (maize, sunflower, soybeans and sugar beet) are showing the effects of intense heat and drought," the ministry's statistics service said in the report.
France is among EU countries to have experienced torrid weather this summer, although it has suffered less than more northerly regions such as Scandinavia and parts of Germany.
For grain maize (corn), the reduced harvest outlook was 13.9 percent below the average of the past five years, and the ministry warned that production could shrink further as farmers are expected to cut some crop as fodder maize for on-farm use, rather than selling it as grain.
Most traders are expecting a steeper fall in French grain maize production to around 11-11.5 million tonnes.
The ministry's production forecast was based on an expected national yield of 9.09 tonnes per hectare (t/ha), down from 10.37 t/ha last year.
For sugar beet, the average yield was projected to fall to 85.07 t/ha from 95.16 t/ha in 2017.
However, forecast production would still be 10.6 percent above the five-year mean, reflecting a high planted area after the scrapping of EU production quotas a year ago.
For soft wheat, France's main cereal crop, the ministry reduced again its production estimate, to 34.55 million tonnes from 35.1 million seen in August, now 5.5 percent below the 2017 volume and 3.7 percent below the five-year average.
The national yield was trimmed to 7.02 t/ha from 7.11 estimated last month.
The ministry reiterated that wheat suffered from heavy rain in spring, which also affected barley and rapeseed.
Barley production was revised down to 11.55 million tonnes from 11.8 million last month, 4.5 percent below the 2017 crop.
Winter barley output was estimated to be down 6.7 percent at 8.5 million tonnes, outweighing a 2.2 percent rise in spring barley production to 3.1 million tonnes.
Rapeseed production was revised up to 4.8 million tonnes from 4.6 million estimated in August, but this was 10.6 percent below last year's crop and 5.1 percent under the five-year average.
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