France's Rapeseed Improves in Northeast After Rainfall

French rapeseed conditions improved in the country’s north and northeast after rain in past days, easing concerns about poor crop development ahead of winter, according to industry researcher Cetiom.

“The current rainfall and mild temperatures favor the growth of the plants,” the Paris-based researcher wrote in an online report yesterday. In the Picardie, Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Seine-Maritime regions “crop stages are varied, but the rapeseed is moving toward a correct development before winter,” it said.

France is the European Union’s largest grower of the oilseed. Rainfall in August and September was below average, and Cetiom said rapeseed was planted in drought conditions.

In Champagne-Ardenne, plants have developed three or more leaves in about 70 percent of rapeseed plots, compared with 40 percent last week, according to Cetiom. In Picardie, Nord-Pas- de-Calais and Seine-Maritime, more than 75 percent of fields are at three or more leaves, it said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rudy Ruitenberg in Paris at rruitenberg@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net