DRV: German grain harvest with many lows and few highs.
In its Oct. 24 issue, the German Raiffeisen Association (DRV) confirms the second-lowest German grain harvest ever at around 39 million tons, as last seen in 2018 with around 38 million tons. In very good years (2014), there were also harvests of over 52 million tons. In the last 10 years, we have moved further and further away from this. The main reasons for this are the decreasing acreage and declining yields.
At -9.45 %, the current 2024 harvest is significantly lower than the 5-year average. The decline in harvested area (-4.7 %) and average yields per hectare (-3.7 %) contributed to this.
There are considerable differences between winter and summer cereals. In general, winter crops fared worse due to the unfavorable weather conditions during cultivation, both in terms of reduced acreage and yields per hectare.
This is particularly noticeable in the case of winter wheat with -15.5 % lower production. However, the rye and triticale harvests also slipped significantly with an average of -15.5 %. Winter barley fell comparatively little at -8.1 %.
In contrast, summer crops benefited in terms of area from the decline in the cultivation of winter cereals. Summer wheat cultivation almost doubled, summer barley and oats increased by +13 % and maize cultivation increased by +8 %. Despite the increases, spring cereal cultivation only accounts for just under 20 % of the cereal area. This means that even the above-average yields per hectare are only of limited help in compensating for the losses of winter crops. In any case, the yield potential of spring wheat, spring barley and oats is lower than the corresponding winter varieties.
The maize harvest achieved an outstanding result this year. A higher harvest area and above-average yields are the main reasons for this. The large supply of maize overall will probably contribute to the fact that additional areas originally intended for silage maize and biogas plants are still being used in part for grain maize or CCM. This year's harvest has not yet been completed.