JRC MARS Bulletin - Crop monitoring in Europe - Vol. 28 No. 7, July 2020: Sustained positive outlook for summer crops

The July issue of the JRC MARS Bulletin - Crop monitoring in Europe – reports that the recent near-average weather conditions, with well-distributed rainfall and relatively few hot spells, have been favourable to crops in many parts of Europe. However, extreme weather events in much of central Europe, south-western Finland and southern Russia had significant negative impacts, mostly on winter crops. The predominantly favourable weather conditions contributed to an improved yield outlook in several regions. Compared to the yield forecasts presented in the June issue of the Bulletin, the strongest upward revision at EU level was for spring barley (+6.4%), reflecting improved or continued favourable conditions in almost all major producing countries. However, the forecast for winter wheat was slightly revised further downwards. This was mainly due to the sharp downward revisions of the yield forecast in Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary associated with a very unfavourable season worsened by heavy rain around ripening which outweighed the slight upward revisions in most other countries. For most other winter crops and summer crops, the balance was slightly positive. The yield forecasts for grain maize and sunflowers remain well above the 5-year average, reflecting a sustained positive outlook in all of the main producing countries.
JRC.D.5-Food Security