France Braces for Smallest Maize and Sugar Beet Harvests Since the 1970s
France's farm ministry has cut its maize forecast to 8.1 million tons and projected sugar beet output at 25.4 million tons, both the lowest in decades.
France is heading for its smallest maize and sugar beet harvests in decades after heatwaves and drought damaged crops across the European Union's largest agricultural producer, the country's farm ministry said in a report on Tuesday.
The ministry lowered its forecast for grain maize to 8.1 million metric tons, down from 9.0 million projected last month and nearly 42% below last year's level. For sugar beet, it issued a first output projection of 25.4 million tons, a 29% decline year on year.
Both figures are the lowest in ministry records going back to 1980. Historical data compiled by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization indicate the maize crop would be the smallest since 1976 and the beet crop since 1978.
Analysts and producers had widely anticipated a sharp fall in maize and beet output, with many expecting grain maize to come in below 7 million tons.
The ministry said harvesting of poor non-irrigated grain maize as fodder for on-farm use could cover 120,000 hectares, adding to a steep reduction in the grain maize area.
The severe summer weather also weighed on other crops. Sunflower seed yields were forecast at their lowest since at least 1980, while ware potato yields were seen at their weakest since 1995.
The ministry trimmed its estimate for the soft wheat harvest to 31.7 million tons from 31.9 million, now 5% lower than a year earlier, and cut its barley projection to 10.8 million tons from 11.0 million, 9% below 2025.
The rapeseed crop estimate was left unchanged at 4.7 million tons, up 2% on the year.