Despite damage caused at the beginning of the year, when a cold snap affected crops in a number of European countries, the European Commission has raised the forecast for the EU’s wheat harvest.

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The soft wheat crop is currently pegged at just under 133m tonnes, 3.2m tonnes higher than the 2011 crop, though the triannual report showed France and Germany, the bloac’s top two wheat producers, are likely to suffer losses due to frost damage. Average yield is expected to be 5.7 tonnes per hectare.

Despite the current weather concerns, growing drought in Portugal and Spain and the near certainty of water scarcity in the UK, the effects of the mild winter and increased plantings are likely to result in a bumper crop for most European producers.

The total EU wheat area this year is estimated to be 23.3m hectares. The EU is the world’s largest wheat producer. Some of the demand for wheat will be for bioethanol production, which will increase in a number of countries including the UK with the opening of a plant near Hull. The process is acutely controversial as environmentalists claim the process is raising food and feed prices and damaging the environment.

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