French Ministry of Agriculture expects wheat harvest to increase by 27% in 2025

The French Ministry of Agriculture forecasts a significant recovery in soft wheat production in 2025, at 32.6 million tonnes. This is 27% more than in 2024, when the harvest was affected by excessive rainfall.

This initial forecast is in line with analysts' estimates, which predict a harvest of 32-33 million tons, Reuters reports. According to the ministry's calculations, the average yield will be 7.26 tons/hectare compared to 6.09 tons/hectare last year. The area under wheat will increase to 4.49 million hectares (in 2024 - 4.21 million hectares).

The gross harvest volume in 2025 is expected to exceed the five-year average by 2.4%. At the same time, the ministry notes that the average includes two poor years, and production growth is constrained by the relatively small area of crops.

Barley production in 2025 is also forecast at a high level of 11.8 million tonnes, up 19.1% from 2024 and 6.2% above the average for the past five years. The winter barley harvest is estimated at 8.4 million tonnes (+19.5%), and the spring barley harvest is estimated at 3.4 million tonnes (+18.1%).

The forecast for the rapeseed harvest remained at the level of the June estimate - 4.2 million tons.

In addition, the ministry has revised upwards the area under corn to 1.59 million hectares. This is 0.2% more than last year and almost 4% higher than the five-year average.