MARS reduces EU rapeseed yields

The MARS crop monitoring service on Monday cut most of its forecasts for the average European Union grain yield this year, and also sharply reduced the maize harvest as hot weather continued to affect crops in southeastern Europe. MARS cut this year’s rapeseed yield to 3.07 t/ha from last month’s forecast of 3.10 t/ha, down 3% from a year earlier. Forecasters have been cutting their forecasts for the EU’s maize crop largely due to hot weather in Romania, which has previously vied with France for the title of the EU’s largest maize producer. In its monthly report (embedded below, oilworld.ru note), MARS forecasts the average maize yield in 2024 at 7.03 metric tons per hectare (t/ha), down from 7.24 t/ha in July and 6% below last year’s figure. “The bright crops were particularly hard hit in regions where hot weather coincided with limited access to water, as was often the case in Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece,” MARS said. Detailed assessments showed that MARS cut its maize ...