According to the farm office FranceAgriMer, French farmers had nearly finished harvesting this year’s soft wheat crop by Monday.
In fact, as of Aug. 30, farmers had cut 99% of the soft wheat area.
Harvest progress remained two weeks behind the pace last year and 11 days slower than the average pace of the past five years.
Heavy summer rain led to repeated harvest delays, and damaged some wheat crops, notably in terms of milling quality for export.
Grain firms are still sorting wheat from the late-running harvest to assess the scale of quality losses.
Production is expected to recover from last year’s poor volume, however, consultancy Agritel last week pegged output well below the farm ministry’s current estimate.
Meantime, corn growing conditions, which will harvest in autumn, with 91% of the crop rated good or excellent were stable compared to the week earlier.
