Adds details, comparison with previous years
PARIS, Sept 16 (Reuters) – Rapeseed sowings ahead of the 2022 harvest are set to rise between 15% and 20% compared with the previous year as farmers are encouraged by good yields this season and high prices, French oilseed growers group FOP said on Thursday.
Rapeseed prices have surged this year, supported by concerns over tight global supplies, notably lower-than-expected forecasts for Canada’s drought-hit canola crop.
A rise of 15-20% in the French 2022 rapeseed area would put it between 1.12 million and 1.17 million hectares, against 977,000 hectares this season. It would still be well below the 2016-2020 average area of 1.36 million hectares, according to farm ministry data.
Improved weather was also supporting expanded area for next year, FOP said.
Summer rain, which damaged wheat crops, has boosted soil moisture for rapeseed which is drilled in late summer.
Rapeseed sowings ahead of the 2021 crop were disrupted by drought and the area also was hitby frosts and pest attacks later in the season.
Farmers and the ministry had feared that the fall in area would push the final crop below 3 million tonnes for the first time in 20 years but good yields compensated for the loss.
FOP estimated this year’s rapeseed crop at 3.35 million tonnes, up 2% on last year and slightly above the farm ministry’s latest estimate of 3.31 million tonnes.
(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide, Editing by Gus Trompiz and Andrea Ricci)
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