Parched conditions in France will prevent farmers from completing rapeseed sowing and lead to a sharp drop in the area planted for next year's harvest, oilseed producers group Terres Univia said on Thursday. The dry weather is expected to cause the rapeseed area for the 2019 crop to decline by 150,000-250,000 hectares from around 1.5 million hectares this year, it said.
On the basis of the French farm ministry's estimate of 1.59 million hectares of harvested rapeseed this year, Univia's forecast suggests an area decline of between 9 and 16 percent for next year's crop. Sowing difficulties due to the summer drought and rising prices for alternative crops such as wheat are also expected to curb rapeseed sowings in other European Union countries, and could put the bloc on course for another modest harvest in 2019 after weather problems reduced yields this year.
France was less affected than northern European countries by drought and heatwaves in early summer, but dryness has persisted in the late August and September sowing period for rapeseed.
After France as a whole experienced its second-hottest summer on record, a dry September has left some local areas enduring their most severe drought conditions ever, according to France's meteorological office.
The conditions mean farmers have only completed 70-80 pct of planned sowings, said Univia, which had initially expected the rapeseed area to be stable or slightly below this year's level.
Some late sowings are still possible in regions such as Poitou-Charentes on the west coast, it said.
Rapeseed futures on Euronext have rebounded this week, supported by talk of a sharp decline in sowings as well as a broader rally in oilseed markets.
There was also concern that some rapeseed which has been sown will fail to emerge properly and will have to be dug up and replaced with other crops.