BMEL: Harvest Report 2020 As of August 28, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture (BMEL), on the basis of almost 7,000 yield samples and the area surveys of the Stat. Federal Office determined a preliminary official grain harvest of 42.9 million t. This is -3.1% less than in the previous year, compared to the five-year average - 6%. The decisive factor for the harvest result is the 4.7% less cultivated area because more forage was grown. At 69.1 dt / ha, the yield is even 1.3% above the previous year. However, the area yields vary greatly from region to region. The states of Lower Saxony (-13.2%), Saxony-Anhalt (-9.5%), Schleswig Holstein (-7%) and Bavaria (-6.7%) recorded the strongest decline compared to the five-year average. Saxony, Thuringia, Bavaria and Hesse also remain with approx. - 4 to -5% below average.When it comes to cereals, wheat suffered the biggest setback with -10.4% on the 5-year average. In contrast, the rye harvest , which was 6 times smaller, recorded an increase of + 12.2%. The winter barley with -2.2% was partially offset by the smaller-scale summer barley with + 4.6%. Grain maize is located -5.9% below the 5-Jagres average. Given a consumption of approx. 41.5 million t, the German supply situation will be somewhat tighter than in previous years. However, weak exports will leave enough goods behind for domestic consumption. The strong euro also provides inexpensive import options.
