Dry weather in France will cause irreversible damage to crops -Expert

Dry, hot weather in France in the coming 10 days after several months of little rainfall will cause irreversible damage to grain crops in the European Union’s largest grains producer, a technical institute said on Thursday, adding to worries about tight global supplies.

European wheat markets have rallied in recent days on concerns about dry weather in France and some other major producing countries at a time when the war in Ukraine has reduced grain supplies.

Between Jan. 1 and May 10 France will have received about 30% less than the average precipitation of the past 20 years, making the soil sensitive to further dry weather, Jean-Charles Deswarte, agronomist at crop institute Arvalis told Reuters.

Weather Forecaster Meteo France is announcing no rain and hot temperatures for the next 10 days. Plants will clearly not be able to face that, he said.

There will likely be a fall in the number of ears, surely be a fall in the number of grains per ear and, depending on the weather in the following days, (there’ll) probably be a fall in the grains’ weight, he added.

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