Copa and Cogeca, the EU’s farming and agricultural cooperative organisations, published new forecasts for 2018 EU cereal production on Monday 2 July. They estimate a 6% drop in cereal and oilseed crops, resulting from extreme weather conditions.
Copa and Cogeca Cereals Working Party chairman Max Schulman said that farmers in some Central and Northern European countries – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Germany and Finland – had been hit by severe drought, while some southern countries – Iberian Peninsula, Italy and France – have been experiencing floods.
“We consequently expect about 6% drop in the EU cereals harvest compared to 2017, totalling 273.8 million tonnes”, Schulman stated.
For soft wheat, a 2.2 % cut in the area is predicted as prices remain below production costs and farmers continue to be hit by the cost-price squeeze.
Oilseed production is expected to drop by 6% in the EU (2 million tonnes less), compared to last year, with a crop of 31.5 million tonnes.
A 5% (100,000 hectares) cut in the EU-28 area under protein crops has resulted from the ban on the use of plant protection products in ecological focus areas (EFAs). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)