Harvest remains on hold in France, and wet weather is starting to cause quality problems in milling wheat.

Analyst Agritel said rain was likely to keep combines under wraps until Thursday (11 August).

“Despite good testweight recorded before rains, millers reported quality problems for many varieties, generating an increasing buying interest for premium wheat.”

Rain was also delaying harvest in West Ukraine, it added.

But in Russia, farmers had cut 39.8m tonnes of grain by 8 August. Wheat yields were 35% higher than last year, with barley yields up by 43%.

“The Russain Agriculture Ministry raised its forecasts for exports to 20-23m tonnes of grains in 2011/2012.”

It estimated the total crop to be 80-85m tonnes, compared to 61m tonnes last year – but the grain union and Sovecon anticipated production to reach 89-92m tonnes and 87-92m tonnes, respectively.

In America, corn quality had suffered in the hot weather, with 60% rated good to excellent compared to 71% at the same time last year.

The soya crop rating was better than expected, at 61% good to excellent, against 66% last year.