French Crops Under Stress

PARIS - Jul 7/01 - STAT -- Deep concerns are being expressed about the potential size of this year's grain and oilseed crops in France on account of poor conditions throughout the growing season.

"The rain and then the drought will unfortunately result in a drop in yields. I'm not sure there are many regions that were spared," Jean-Michel Lemetayer, head of the powerful FNSEA farm union, told reporters Friday.

France experienced an excessively wet winter and then a heat wave during the months of May and June, affecting barley, rapeseed, sunflower, corn, and wheat. No mention was made of spring seeded field peas, though wet condition during seeding prevented much of this year's potential crop from being planted.

Lemetayer believes French grain and oilseed production will be down 20% from last year. France's statistics bureau SCEES estimates the country grew 66.55 million metric tons (MT) of grain and 5.6 million MT of oilseeds last year. No estimates for this year have been released.

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