Germany’s 2022 wheat crop will increase 5.8 per cent on the year to 22.61 million tonnes, the country’s association of farm co-operatives said in its first harvest estimate on March 17.
It forecast Germany’s 2022 winter rapeseed crop to rise 11.6 per cent from last summer’s crop, to 3.90 million tonnes after an increase of 8.6 per cent in the area planted.
Germany is a major exporter of wheat and good crops would help offset disruption to world supplies from fighting in Ukraine that has hit Ukrainian and Russian supplies, traders say.
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Grain importers worldwide are grappling with surging prices after a sudden halt in exports from Ukraine and a sharp reduction in those from Russia after the conflict, which Moscow terms a “special operation,” closed ports.
German grain had developed well after a mild winter without major frost damage to crops, the association said. But crops are not winter hardened and some could be vulnerable to late-season frosts.
But the association said cuts in fertilizer supplies caused by sanctions against major producer Russia left German farmers facing fertilizer costs up to four times as high as last year.
