HAMBURG: Germany’s winter wheat sown area for the 2023 harvest has been reduced by around 1.9% on the year to about 2.8 million hectares, the national statistics agency estimated on Thursday.

German farmers have turned to winter rapeseed, with sowings for the 2023 crop expanded by 7.6% to around 1.2 million hectares, the agency said.

The agency’s estimates of sowings are traditionally one of the first detailed indications of prospects for the upcoming harvest in Germany. Germany is the European Union’s second largest wheat producer after France and a major exporter. It is one of the EU’s largest producers of rapeseed, Europe’s most important oilseed for edible oil and biodiesel production.

“Cultivation of rapeseed has become more attractive for farmers especially following the higher prices after the poor Canadian crop in 2021 and the war in Ukraine,” the agency said. Ukraine is a major rapeseed exporter but both its farming and export shipments have been disrupted by the war.

“In addition, winter rapeseed crop yields in the 2022 harvest season were robust in many regions despite heat waves and dryness,” it said. German grain and oilseed crops suffered from an unusually hot summer with a prolonged drought in parts of the country.