Strategy Grains lowered its estimate of this year's rapeseed crop for the 2018/19 marketing period in the EU-28, adding that parasite pressure had to be monitored. The current estimate now stands at 22.54 million tonnes (previous estimate: 22.66 million tonnes, marketing year 2017/18: 21.99 million tonnes). Rape is grown on an area of 6.74 million hectares, which is unchanged from the previous estimate and unchanged from the marketing year 2017/18. The average yield estimates Strategy Grains at 3.36 tons / hectare. This is a slight decrease compared to the previous month (3.38 tonnes / hectare), but an increase compared to the marketing year 2017/18 (3.28 tonnes / hectare).
Since last week, the growth of rape plants has been slowed by the cold weather in Europe. In most cases, the cool temperatures help to lower the parasite pressure. In the northern EU countries, the effects of excess water and the delayed development of rape seed plants could be exacerbated, according to Strategy Grains.
