Excessive rain and cold weather in Europe, as well as the after-effects of deluges in late-2012 and heavy snowfall earlier this year across the North of the continent, is having a marked effect on wheat development.

In places, cold weather and wet conditions continue to hamper fieldwork and crop growth.  In France, wheat development is behind and conditions remain cold for the time of year.

Widespread heavy rainfall in Spain, which comes after severe drought conditions caused forest fires last year, has hampered access to fields and delayed vital work. Small farmers' organisation UPA said it expected to see significant crop losses. The country has experienced its wettest March since records began.

In Andalusia the olive crop has been damaged for a second year. Elsewhere, cereals and other field crops are suffering high disease pressures and yields are predicted to be down by a considerable amount.  

In Germany, temperatures also remain unseasonably low, with no rise forecast in the coming days. Although winter kill is not thought to be a problem, wheat remains several weeks behind expected growth.   

Fresh concerns over EU crops caused wheat prices to rise in Paris and London this week. In the US, fears over the state of the country's wheat crop, raised in the latest USDA crop progress report, led to a rebound in wheat prices in Chicago.