France's farm ministry on Tuesday further cut its forecasts of the country's 2018 sugar beet and maize production to take account of damage from scorching summer weather, as harvesting of the crops progresses in the European Union's largest grower. In a monthly crop report, the French farm ministry reduced its estimate of this year's sugar beet output to 40.4 million tonnes from 41.1 million seen last month. The sugar beet crop estimate was 12.7 percent below last year's volume but 8.8 percent above the five-year average.
The ministry also cut its forecast of the 2018 grain maize (corn) crop, excluding seeds, to 12.2 million tonnes from 12.4 million last month. That put the crop 14.6 percent below last year's level and 15.5 percent below the five-year average.
"Summer crops, particularly affected by hot weather in late July-early August, saw their yields fall sharply compared to a prolific year in 2017," it said in its report. The ministry cut its grain maize yield forecast to 8.99 tonnes per hectare (t/ha) from 9.09 t/ha expected in September, while the sugar beet yield was cut to 83.5 t/ha from 85.1 t/ha last month.
France is among EU countries to have experienced extremely hot and dry weather this summer, although it has suffered less than other producers in northern Europe such as Scandinavia and parts of Germany. Sugar beet crops in France were also hit by disease, the ministry said. The maize crop estimate remained above market expectations, with most traders seeing production around 11-11.5 million tonnes.
Estimated soft wheat output was cut to 34.2 million tonnes from 34.55 million last month, putting the crop down 6.5 percent compared with last year's output and 4.7 below the five-year average. The ministry said wheat yields had been affected by a mix of hot and wet weather, but stressed that the quality of grains was very good. The ministry also cut its estimate of the barley harvest to 11.3 million tonnes, from 11.55 million seen last month.
For rapeseed, the ministry slightly raised its estimate of the 2018 crop to 4.9 million tonnes from 4.8 million pegged last month. The crop would still be 9.3 percent below last year's and 3.8 percent below the five-year average.