European spring grain sowings outlook good despite delays

 Prospects for spring grain sowings in the European Union are positive with recent delays not causing concern and a big area expansion is expected in Poland, experts said on Thursday.

Spring grains are the second round of cereals to be sown after winter grains and include spring barley, a key ingredient in beer.

Favourable weather in the EU’s largest grain grower France should allow spring barley sowings to speed up following delays of about 10 days.

“Weather forecasts are conducive to a quick end of sowings, which should thus be done during the optimum period,” a broker said.

Spring barley should ideally be sown by mid-March in France. By Tuesday farmers had sown 40-50 percent of the planned area, brokers said.

Last year, when sowings suffered similar delays, good weather allowed farmers to sow over 40 percent of the area in the week to March 16.

Low prices mean French corn sowings, which usually start around end-March, may be six percent lower this year.

In the second largest grain producer Germany, plantings will be delayed about two weeks by a mixture of frost and rain but the delay should not cause concern, a German analyst said.

Heavy frost damage to crops in Poland means a large area will have to be replanted with spring grains.

Out of 10.9 million acres of winter grains planted in autumn 2015 about six to seven percent will have to re-planted in the spring due to winterkill, said Wojtek Sabaranski of analysts Sparks Polska.

Poland’s spring grain planted area will expand by about 15 percent on the year to around 8.4 million acres.

“Farmers are likely to increase spring barley, spring wheat, and oat acreage the most,” Sabaranski said.

Rains have slowed spring planting progress in Britain but an overall increase in area is anticipated.

“Soils are still quite wet and I think we are behind normal (with spring plantings),” said analyst Susan Twining of consultants ADAS.

An increase in British spring cropping is anticipated this year with about 160,000 acres additionally available following a cut in winter rapeseed sowings.

“I would expect we will probably see a 3-4 percent increase in spring barley (area) which would take up 50,000 acres,” Twining said, adding there were also likely to be increases in spring beans and fallow land.

Low prices and problems with the black-grass weed could encourage an increase in the amount of fallow land.