The forecast 2019/2020 European oilseed rape harvest has been downgraded by one million tonnes, making it the lowest expected harvest in more in a decade.

In its latest monthly report published on Monday, the French consultancy firm Strategie Grains cut its forecast for this year’s harvest to 17.8m tonnes, down from the previous estimate of 18.85m tonnes.

The figure is significantly below the 2018 harvest of approximately 20m tonnes. The downward revision comes largely from revised French and German forecasts.

French output was revised down by 370,000 tonnes to 3.77m tonnes while German output was lowered by 430,000 tonnes to 3.12m tonnes.

Strategie Grains state that crops in both countries suffered from "spring dryness, wide temperature variations and insect attacks, adding to problems caused by drought and insect damage at the start of the growing season".

As a result, it has also increased its forecast for EU rapeseed imports in the 2019/2020 season to a record 5.4m tonnes. This compares to a 5.1m tonnes forecast a month ago and a 4.1m tonne estimate for the current 2018/2019 season.

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Lowest EU oilseed rape harvest in a decade forecast

In its latest report, Strategie Grains has cut the 2019/20 EU oilseed rape harvest forecast by a million tonnes.