PARIS: Crop conditions for French soft wheat were stable in the week to June 28 while farmers made little progress with winter barley harvesting in wet weather, data from farm office FranceAgriMer showed on Friday.

France, the European Union’s largest grain producer, is widely expected to see reap bigger cereal crops this year after more favourable weather than in the previous growing season. However, frequent showers since late June have raised concern about late damage to crops.

An estimated 79percent of French soft wheat was in good or excellent condition, unchanged from the previous week and still well above a year-earlier score of 56percent, FranceAgriMer said in a cereal report.

Traders say that a dry, warm spell is increasingly needed to finish off wheat growth before harvest, but with plant development less advanced than last year immediate risks are moderate.

Weather worries have been more focused on winter barley, usually the first major cereal crop to be harvested in France at the start of summer.

The winter barley harvest was 2percent complete, compared with 1percent the previous week and well behind 36percent a year earlier, FranceAgriMer said.

The good/excellent score for winter barley crops declined slightly to 74percent from 75percent the previous week.

After drier weather since midweek, more showers are forecast across France in the week ahead before a possible hot, dry spell in mid-July.

Harvesting of durum, the wheat variety used in pasta, was also under way with 1percent of the crop area cut. That compares with 16percent a year ago.