PARIS, FRANCE — France’s farm ministry on Nov. 12 lowered its estimate of the country’s 2019 soft wheat production but said it will still be the second-largest crop on record.

The ministry said the decrease in output was due to a downward revision of acreage.

However, it noted that production would still be 16% higher than the previous year and 12% higher than the average of the past five years.

The ministry also raised its estimate on 2019 barley production to 13.7 million tonnes from 13.6 million, which would be 23% above last year’s output.

The ministry said wheat and barley escaped significant damage from the summer heatwave and drought, which had a bigger impact on later-developing crops such as corn.