Up to 50,000 hectares of French rapeseed damaged, growers say (updated)

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13/04/2021 15:00

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    PARIS, April 13 (Reuters) - Between 40,000 and 50,000
hectares of rapeseed have been damaged in France since sowing,
potentially cutting the sown area to about 900,000 hectares, the
head of French oilseed growers group FOP said on Tuesday.
    The oil-rich crop suffered from a cold snap and pest attacks
earlier in the season and faced severe frosts last week.
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    "A number of areas sown have had to be dug up ... about 5%
of initial sowings," FOP chairman Arnaud Rousseau told a news
conference held by French oilseed group Avril, which he also
chairs.
    "So I think we will arrived at the harvest with about
900,000 hectares."
    The French farm estimates that the 2021 rapeseed area
including spring crop will be down 11% from last year at 990,000
hectares, it said earlier on Tuesday, dropping below one million
hectares for the first time in at least six years. The estimate
is also 27% below the five-year average.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2M61VD    

 (Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide
Editing by Jan Harvey and David Goodman
)
 ((Sybille.deLaHamaide@thomsonreuters.com; +336 8774 4148;))