Easter rain in parts of west Europe was not enough to significantly help parched wheat crops in key producers France and Germany, and fears of crop damage are growing, Reuters quoted analysts and traders as saying on Tuesday. Weather forecasts for both countries are for only scattered rain this week. Dryness could start to cut wheat yields in the 2011 harvest in France and Germany, analysts said. Concern is also growing in Britain, but the outlook in Italy and Spain is better. "The forecasts for France and Germany are not for the big washing of rain that plants need, and fears of damage are now intensifying each day," one trader said. EU wheat prices have risen in the past week on worry that an exceptionally dry April will stress wheat plants already struggling after an exceptionally cold winter. In France, the EU's largest wheat producer, weekend storms offered little relief to parched wheat plants whose yield potential has now been cut, especially in areas with light soil, analysts said. "There are already losses in terms of yield potential," said Cedric Weber, an analyst with French grains consultancy Offre & Demande Agricole (ODA). "We can already rule out the possibility of a very good yield. We are on course for an average to poor yield." France's 2010 wheat crop was 35.6 million tonnes, based on a national yield of 7.24 tonnes a hectare, a yield 3.6 percent above the average for 2006-10, the farm ministry estimates. Storms brought some showers in France over the weekend, but analysts said they were too localised and brief to help dried-out soil. "The benefits of this kind of rain are very, very minor," Weber said. Grain belts in the northern half of France have had months of below-average rainfall capped by hot, dry weather during April. Little rain was expected this week, although temperatures were due to fall after summer-like heat in the past few days. "It's not so much the high temperatures but the insufficient water levels in the major grain regions that are worrying us," Jean-Paul Borde of French grains institute Arvalis said. Local authorities in some parts of France have already restricted irrigation of crops in response to low levels of water reserves. Only light rain is forecast in France this week, mostly from Thursday. Second-largest EU wheat producer Germany had a dry, hot Easter. Some rain is forecast from Tuesday but not in the country's key northern wheat belt. "We have some showers forecast this week in Germany at last after an unusually long dry spell," one German trader said. "The big concern is whether this will be enough and whether the rain will fall in the regions which most need it." Showers are forecast for central and south-eastern Germany on Tuesday and again on Wednesday. Central and southern areas are again forecast to receive showers on Thursday and Friday with dry and hot weather forecast to return on Saturday. Germany's farm cooperatives association forecasts a 2.2 percent rise in the 2011 wheat crop to 24.6 million tonnes if there are normal weather patterns. But last year's crop was also heavily cut by rain. -- SPA
