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  • News article
  • 18 June 2019
  • 1 min read

MARS Crop Monitoring Bulletins: Fair yield outlook for the EU and mixed outlook for North Africa

MARS Crop Monitoring Bulletins - June 2019
© igorbukhlin – stock.adobe.com

Three MARS Crop Monitoring Bulletins were published yesterday, covering Europe, Ukraine and North Africa.

According to the crop monitoring Bulletin for Europe, the yield outlook is fair at the EU level.

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Beneficial rainfall in northern and northern-central Europe contributed to an improved outlook in regions that experienced a dry spell in April.

Abundant rainfall in Italy, and southern central and eastern Europe also provided benefits in terms of improved water supply. However, this wet weather was accompanied by below-average temperatures, hampering summer crop growth in large parts of these regions.

In contrast, hot and dry conditions in the Iberian Peninsula reduced yield expectations for the main winter crops and spring barley. Moreover, water reservoirs are at below-average levels, which could possibly lead to restrictions on water use for irrigation of summer crops later in the season.

At the EU level, the overall yield outlook for cereals slightly improved compared to our previous forecast in May. Grain maize and sunflower yield expectations are distinctly above the five-year average, reflecting the favourable conditions in large parts of south-eastern Europe.

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According to the MARS Bulletin global outlook – Ukraine, winter crops and spring barley have been faring very well, due to the early start to spring and above-average temperatures since February.

Some summer crop sowings have been delayed due to a rain surplus observed in western oblasts, particularly impacting soybeans and, to a lesser extent, grain maize.

Winter cereal and spring barley yield forecasts are close to a record high; however, conditions observed towards the end of the cropping season were less beneficial, with warm temperatures during grain filling, the rain surplus and lack of radiation foremost in western oblasts.

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According to the MARS Bulletin global outlook - North Africa, the cereal campaign in North Africa was characterised by a strong west-east gradient of rainfall supply and distribution.

Morocco was clearly impacted by drought conditions in the regions of Tensif, Centre and Oriental.

Some regions in western Algeria were also impacted by drought, but were more than compensated by the good conditions taking place in eastern growing regions.

Crops in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt had a good to very good season.

Further information

Related Content

JRC MARS Bulletins

Details

Publication date
18 June 2019