PARIS, FRANCE — France may experience its worst soft wheat harvest in four decades due to heavy rains that could see production fall to 25.2 million tonnes in marketing year 2024-25, which would be 27% below the five-year average, Bloomberg reported, citing Argus Media France.
France is the European Union’s top wheat grower and among its top exporters, but relentless rains along with a lack of sunshine and low temperatures favoring diseases have impacted yields and the quality of the crops in most of the country’s growing regions.
Gautier Le Molgat, director of Argus Media France, told Bloomberg that the entire French cereals industry would be impacted by the depressed harvest, which would challenge the 24.5 million tonnes produced in 1983.
Weather extremes across Europe have hit grains this season, with excessive rains in northwestern Europe, and drought and high temperatures hurting corn crops in the east. The EU is projected by the International Grains Council to produce 128.7 million tonnes of wheat in 2024-25, down from 133.1 million the previous marketing year.
Despite the poor outlook in France and a smaller crop in Russia, wheat traded in Chicago is still trading near the lowest in four years as US crops keep the market well-supplied.
