ROMANIA (7 February)
Prospects are favourable for the 2005 winter wheat crop. Weather conditions have been generally ideal since planting last autumn. Adequate soil moisture levels ensured good establishment of crops and heavy snowfalls this winter have kept crops protected from potential frost damage. The area planted with wheat is officially estimated at 2.2 million hectares, about 13 percent above the area harvested last year. However, assuming normal weather conditions until harvest, yields would drop from the exceptionally high levels attained last year and thus, despite the area increase, output could drop from the previous year’s bumper level of 7.6 million tonnes to about 5.5 million tonnes.