Relief as sun boosts German grain harvest

05 Aug, 2004

Sunshine in the past week means Germany's grains harvest is progressing at top speed and fears of late rain damage have all but ended, analysts said on Wednesday.
Prospects for a good harvest returned with quality and yields good for the early crop.
"We came close to serious problems this year in Germany but in the last week the weather has hugely improved and the whole picture has now changed from dangerous to very promising," one grains analyst said.
Constant rain in July had prompted fears that the grains crop would suffer late damage to both quality and volume.
But the picture has been turned around by the big improvement in the weather in the last week with sunshine drying out crops and enabling combine harvesters to work at top speed.
"Germany has really had luck this year," one analyst said. "Some farms were really on the brink of a disaster when the weather suddenly changed."
The improvement has been reflected in falling German grain prices. German new-crop bread wheat for Hamburg delivery in September or options for later months fell to 110 euros a tonne on Wednesday from 113.5 euros the previous week and 115 euros on July 20 when rain was causing major concern about possible crop damage.

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