HAMBURG: Germany’s 2023 winter wheat crop will fall some 7% on the year to an estimated 20.59 million metric tons after crops suffered from hot, dry weather, the association of German farmers DBV said on Tuesday.

The winter rapeseed crop is expected to fall 4% on the year to about 4.11 million metric tons, it said. “We expect a below average harvest again with great regional variations,” said association president Joachim Rukwied. “In many parts of the country, the long period of dryness in May and June caused significant damage to crops, so the harvest expectations this year are below the long-term average.” Rain in parts of Germany in the last 14 days was too late for many grain crops but was helpful for sugar beet, potatoes and animal feed plants, he said. More rain is still needed in coming weeks, especially for maize (corn) and sugar beet crops.

Germany is the European Union’s second largest wheat producer after France and in most years the EU’s largest producer of rapeseed, Europe’s main oilseed for edible oil, biodiesel and animal feed meal production. German farm cooperatives also forecast smaller crops.

The DBV forecasts a total German grain crop of all types of 40.91 million metric tonnes, down 6% on 2022 and down 3% on the average between 2018-2022.