AgroPages-French wheat sowings rise, at expense of rapeseed-Agricultural news

Winter sowings of soft wheat in France for the 2015 harvest will end up above 5.0 million hectares for the first time in at last six years - at the expense of rapeseed area, official data showed.

French growers, the European Union's top grain producers, are finishing up on plantings of 5.083 million hectares with winter wheat, a rise of 160,000 hectares year on year, the country's farm ministry said.

The increase, which will take sowings 100,000 hectares above the five-year average, reflected rises in "most regions", although in particular in Lorraine, in north east France, where the rise was some 18%.

The ministry noted that "planting was done in good conditions, and was early in most regions", and had "almost finished" for soft wheat.

And crop is broadly is good health, with 93% rated in "good" or "excellent" condition by FranceAgriMer, the French crop bureau, above the 80% a year ago.

"However, in some areas in the south of France, heavy rains and flooding could undermine the seedlings" in some fields, the ministry said.

Price incentive

Growers have also raised sowings of durum wheat, the type used in making pasta, which has attracted a large premium this season thanks to weather damage to crops in major producing countries such as Canada and Italy.

French sowings of winter durum for 2015 have, "after two years of sharp decline", risen by 28,000 hectares, or 9.7%, to 309,000 hectares although remaining below the five-year average of 387,000 hectares.

"Since September, the price ratio between common wheat and durum wheat has been in favour of durum wheat," the ministry said, flagging the need for a gap to compensate farmers for the lower yields typically achieved with durum compared with soft wheat.

In the key September-to-November sowing window, the price ratio of durum: soft wheat averaged 2.2, compared with 1.3 last year.

Rapeseed area lower

With winter sowings of winter barley up too, by 16,000 hectares to 1.26 million hectares, also the highest since at least those ahead of the 2009 harvest, overall winter plantings of French gains were estimated up 139,000 hectares at 7.109 million hectares.

Again, overall winter cereal plantings have not been this high for at least six years.

However, the increase has come in part at the expense of rapeseed, for which plantings were pegged at 1.486 million hectares, down 1.0% year on year, to below-average levels.

Winter sowings of soft wheat, durum and rapeseed, account for the vast majority of French plantings of the crops, and for barley for more than two-thirds of seedings.