HAMBURG: Germany's 2019 grains harvest will be about 45 million tonnes, up from a drought-damaged 37.9 million tonnes in 2018, the DBV farmers association said on Friday.
That would still be 6% down on the long-year average, the association said in its final harvest estimates.
Grains suffered from a heatwave which affected much of west Europe with record temperatures in late July, while rains earlier this month delayed harvesting in some areas, it said.
Germany is the European Union's second largest wheat producer after France and in many years the EU's largest producer of rapeseed, Europe's main oilseed for edible oil and biodiesel production.
It will harvest about 23.1 million tonnes of winter wheat in 2019, up from the very small crop of 19.5 million tonnes last year which suffered drought damage, the DBV said. This year's winter wheat crop is still some 2.2 million tonnes below the 2013-2017 average, it said.
The country's winter rapeseed harvest will fall to 2.8 million tonnes from 3.6 million tonnes in 2018 after the sowed area was reduced.
The harvest of winter barley, largely used for animal feed, will rise to 9.7 million tonnes from 7.3 million tonnes last year. Winter barley was generally ripe when the July heatwave arrived and so escaped damage, the DBV said.
Germany's maize (corn) crop is also facing stress from dryness, it warned. The maize crop will rise to about 3.8 million tonnes from 3.3 million tonnes last year.
Harvest results varied considerably between regions with some areas still suffering from dry soils following last year's drought, the association said. Grain harvesting is largely complete.
The rapeseed harvest is especially disappointing and so small that some farmers could avoid the crop in future, according to association president Joachim Rukwied.
There is concern about the future of rapeseed cultivation in Germany as the oilseed is important for crop rotation, he said.
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