Germany's 2016 wheat crop will fall 1.7 percent on the year to 26.10 million tonnes but will still reach a good average, the country's association of farm co-operatives said on Tuesday. The association forecast the country's 2016 winter rapeseed crop will rise 0.7 percent on the year to 5.04 million tonnes.
The wheat planted area is hardly changed from last year at 3.28 million hectares, it said. But yields are likely to be 7.9 tonnes a hectare, slightly down from last year's exceptionally high yields of 8.0 tonnes a hectare, it said.
"This is still a good crop and approaches last year's excellent harvest," one German trader said.
Germany is the European Union's second-largest wheat producer after France and in most years the EU's largest producer of rapeseed and Europe's main oilseed for edible oil and biodiesel production.
"The grain and rapeseed plants have come through the winter without significant damage," the association said in its first harvest estimate.
"Plants were often in an above-average state of growth following the mild, growth-positive autumn weather but were able to withstand the cold weather in January. Light snow cover in many regions helped."
Germany's crop of winter barley, largely used for animal feed, is set to fall 2.1 percent on the year to 9.43 million tonnes, the association said.