The European Commission has significantly lowered the estimate for the yield of grain maize to 6.93 tons/hectare, which would be 2% under the 5 year average.
Maize yield declines in south
A month earlier, the EU’s monthly MARS report put the estimate for grain maize at 7.18 tons/hectare. The long and dry summer has severely affected maize and other summer crops like sunflowers and soybeans, specifically in Southern and Eastern Europe, the August report says.
Drought hits Eastern Europe
Persistent drought conditions in Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, southern Ukraine and Turkey caused irreversible yield damage in rainfed agriculture. Heat and rainfall deficit reduced yield expectations also in Hungary and eastern Croatia. In contrast, conditions were more favourable in western and northern Europe. In Spain, Portugal, Italy, France – but only the northern part -, the Benelux countries, Germany, and Poland, adequate rainfall and moderate temperatures – despite some heatwaves – supported summer crop development, with yield expectations around or above the 5-year average.
Country-specific maize yields
Those developments in the weather are reflected in the specific yield figures for grain maize per country. Worst affected is Romania with an estimated yield of 3.35 tons/hectare, 17% under the 5 year average. Hungary is expected to produce 5.62 tons/hectare, 13% lower than that average. The best performances are registered in the Netherlands with 11.7 ton/ha, Belgium at 11.2 ton/ha, Austria at 10.7 tons/ha and Italy with a yield of 10.2 tons/ha.
Winter crop outlook positive
The winter crop season has generally ended, with an outlook broadly confirming the previous overall positive forecasts for grain yield, the MARS report says. Wheat has reached an estimated yield of 5.92 tons/ha, slightly above the earlier estimate of 5.88 tons/ha and also 7% higher than the average over the previous 5 years. Barley came in at 5.35 tons/ha, largest unchanged from a month ago, while rye reached 4.29 tons/ha against an earlier estimate of 4.20 tons/ha.
