A continued heatwave and dry weather in most of northern and central Europe in the past month has hurt crops, prompting the European Union's crop monitoring service, MARS, to further cut yield forecasts for winter and spring harvests.
In a monthly crop report released on Monday, MARS cut its sugar beet yield forecast more than 5% from July's estimate after scorching weather parched farmland across northern Europe, the largest growing region.
Sugar Price Slump
The likely drop in output comes as EU producers are facing a slump in sugar prices linked to big global surpluses just after raising supply to profit from the ending of EU quotas a year ago.
The crop monitoring unit pegged this year's sugar beet yield in the 28-member bloc at 73.8 tonnes per hectare, down from the 77.9 t/ha estimated last month. The new forecast is 9% below last year's yield and now below the 5-year average of 74.6 t/ha.
Beet crops were hurt most in Denmark and in the bloc's second-largest producer Germany, which were both severely hit by this summer's hot spell. Germany's sugar beet yield is now expected at 71.7 t/ha, 5% below the 5-year average, data showed.
Maize Forecast
MARS also cut its forecast for the EU 2018 grain maize yield to 7.57 tonnes per hectare (t/ha) from the 7.64 t/ha seen last month despite good performance for maize in southern Europe that partly offset damage further north.
Analysts had estimated that favourable prospects for maize in the bloc's southerly regions could help offset losses from the prolonged drought and heatwaves in the north.
"The yield forecast for grain maize was revised slightly downwards at EU level but remains above the 5-year average," MARS said.
"Sharp downward revisions in central Europe as well as in France were counterbalanced by strong upward revisions in south-eastern Europe where weather conditions were particularly favourable, especially in Romania and Bulgaria."
MARS cut its forecast for the EU 2018 soft wheat yield to 5.70 t/ha from 5.82 t/ha last month, now 6.7% below last season and 4.5% below the 5-year average.
It also trimmed its estimate for EU 2018 barley yields to 4.71 t/ha from 4.74 t/ha last month and its EU rapeseed yield forecast to 2.87 t/ha from 2.89 t/ha last month.
News by Reuters, edited by ESM. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine
