a french farmer harvests his field of wheat during sunset in thunleveque northern france july 22 2021 picture taken with a drone july 22 2021 reuterspascal rossignol paris june 3 reuters  the condition of frances soft wheat crop has declined for a fifth consecutive week data from farm office franceagrimer showed on friday as dryness persisted in the european unions biggest grain producer an estimated 67 of the soft wheat crop was in good or excellent condition in the week to may 30 down from 69 the previous week franceagrimer said in a cereal report the rating fell by more than 20 percentage points in may as a hot spell exacerbated drought after low rainfall since the start of the year however the decline in conditions last week was smaller than in the three preceding weeks suggesting showers and cooler temperatures gave some respite to crops the latest soft wheat rating compared with a yearearlier score of 80 franceagrimer said harvest prospects in france are being watched closely amid disruption to ukrainian supplies following russias invasion traders and analysts say drought has damaged french crops in areas with shallow soil but that conditions are much more promising in areas with deep soil that have had some rainfall read more regional data in franceagrimers cereal report confirmed local contrasts in the centreval de loire region south of paris just 43 of the soft wheat crop was rated goodexcellent while in the hautsdefrance another key production zone in the far north the score was 71 unsettled weather with showers forecast for the end of this week could help crops according to traders crop conditions for french barley and durum wheat also declined further spring barley again showed the steepest weekly fall with the goodexcellent score losing 7 percentage points to 54 franceagrimers data showed the goodexcellent rating for recently sown maize crops was unchanged from the previous week at 91 reporting by gus trompiz and forrest crellin editing by jason neely