PARIS: French farmers had almost finished harvesting this year’s soft wheat crop, expected to be the smallest since the 1980s, by Aug. 12, weekly data from farm office FranceAgriMer showed on Friday.

Some 98% of the soft wheat crop area had been harvested by Monday, up from 88% a week earlier, FranceAgriMer said in a weekly cereal report. Months of heavy rain in France, the European Union’s biggest grain producer, have cut wheat planting and yields in a setback for farmers also facing lower prices and higher costs.

FranceAgriMer rated just 48% of the soft wheat crop as good or excellent, the worst rating since 2016 when heavy rain also contributed to one of France’s smallest harvests in decades. For grain maize, harvested in autumn, the good/excellent score for crops eased to 76% from 77% a week earlier to show a third straight weekly decline amid hot weather in France.

The rating compared with 84% a year ago. Farmers finished harvesting durum wheat last week while nearing the end of the spring barley harvest, with 91% of the crop cut, FranceAgriMer said. Harvesting of winter barley ended during the previous week.