Strategie Grains has, in its first detailed sowings estimates for the 2011 harvest, forecast European Union soft wheat plantings at 23.4m hectares.

The figure compares with 23.0m hectares for this year's crop, and would beat the 23.3m hectares sown with the cereal as prices ran up to their 2008 peak, when Paris wheat neared E300 a tonne.

And wheat seedings for 2011 would have been even bigger were it not for wet weather in eastern areas which prevented some plantings, the influential analysis group said.

At this year's yield, the additional sowings would produce an extra 2.2m tonnes of wheat.

Cereals vs oilseeds 

Indeed, Strategie Grains maintained its theme that cereals would be the biggest beneficiary of stronger crop prices, even though the food commodity rally has driven prices of oilseeds higher too. Rapeseed closed in Paris on Wednesday at a two-year high of E426.75 a tonne.

The group lifted by 200,000 hectares to 11.6m hectares its forecast for oilseed sowings, projecting that a rise in sunflower area will make up for a drop in rapeseed plantings, leaving oilseed area level year-on-year.

However, the overall area put down to crops will rise by some 1m hectares, the first increase in two years, with many farmers prevented from sowing winter wheat turning to corn, which is sown in the spring, instead.

"[Corn] is likely to benefit from unfulfilled planting winter crop planting intentions in central and east Europe," Strategie Grains said, pegging the increase in sowings of the grain at 500,000 hectares.

Corn's margins were "currently more attractive than for spring barley", an alternative spring sown crop in many areas.

Nonetheless, barley area, including winter-sown crop, will rise too by 350,000 hectares to 12.6m hectares.