Heat wave hits summer crops in eastern Europe, but it's relief for the northwest

By Sybille de La Hamaide and Michael Hogan PARIS (Reuters) - A heatwave expected to spread across Europe this week is likely to hit summer crops hard in the southeast but is good news for farmers on the other side of the region after prolonged rains flooded fields and harmed plant growth, according to analysts. Forecasters are predicting scorching temperatures across most of the European Union this week, just as record heat and dry weather are threatening harvests in other key global growing regions, affecting global supplies and driving up prices. Weather is key for crops as harvest approaches in the northern hemisphere, and any sign of damage, or relief, could send prices swinging. Reports of high yields and rain on parched wheat fields in top exporter Russia have sent global wheat prices tumbling from 10-month highs in recent weeks. Summer crops in eastern Europe and the Balkans, particularly in Romania, the EU's second-largest corn producer, were most at risk from the heat ...