MARS Raises Its EU Grain Yield Forecast For Second Month

MARS, the European Union’s crop monitoring body, has raised its grain crop yield forecast for the 27-member bloc for the second month in a row.

Following a cold snap early in the growing season, a spate of warm and wet conditions have boosted crop development, raising expectations that output for all winter cereals, including rapeseed, will exceed their five-year averages.

However, summer crops, such as corn, have not seen the same benefits from the shift in conditions. EU soft wheat yields were raised to 6.01 tons per hectare - up from 5.91 tons per hectare in May, and 5.6 percent higher than the five-year EU average for the crop.

Barley yield forecasts were raised to 4.97 tons per hectare, up from 4.89 tons per hectare, and rapeseed expectations are now 3.23 tons per hectare, compared to 3.21 tons per hectare in May - also 5.6 percent above the five-year average. Corn saw a marginal bump, with average yield forecasts coming in at 7.84 tons per hectare - up from 7.81 tons per hectare last month - a jump of only 1.2 percent.

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