German farmers planted less wheat and more canola than previously estimated. This means that the wheat crop of 2016 will fall by 3.7% over the year to 25.57 million tons, said the Association of agricultural cooperatives in Germany on Tuesday.

Germany is the second largest producer of wheat in the European Union after France, and competes with a neighbor for the position of the largest producer of canola in the unit, the main oilseed crops of Europe, used to produce edible oil and biodiesel.

The Association has predicted that the winter rapeseed crop in Germany to 2016 will increase by 1.8% for the year to 5.10 million tons from 5.04 million tons that was predicted in April.

Reason for change forecasts is that German farmers planted approximately 50,000 acres less wheat than previously expected for the 2016 crop, and sowed some more instead of canola, said the Association.

The wheat crop will still be good, on the average. The average yield of wheat in Germany in 2010-2015 was about 25 million tons.

German grain harvest and rape in General is in good condition, said the Association.

The grain harvest has experienced very cold weather over the last few weeks as a whole, without prejudice, said the Association. But the development of the crop is sometimes a little behind the average pace.

Rape has also experienced a recent sudden cold snap without significant damage, and sowing of spring cereals is now complete.

The harvest of winter barley in Germany, used mainly in animal feed, will drop by 3.2% for the year to 9.3 million tonnes, as yields are projected to be below last year's high level, said the Association.

Spring barley is used for beer production and malt, will fall by 2.3% to 1.95 million tonnes, while the corn harvest will rise by 12.8% to 4.47 million tonnes partly due to the increase in the cultivated area.

Source: Thomson Reuters