Madrid, May 25 - Freak storms hit import-hungry Spain's main grain producing region at the weekend, farmers said on Monday, and insurers were assessing the damage to a crop that was already expected to fall hard from last year.
"Winter grains, vines, maize and sugar beet were all hit. Some rain would have been welcome, but there was little," a grain technician from the Asaja farm union said in the northern region of Castilla-Leon, which typically produces half of Spain's grain.
Officials at agricultural insurers Agroseguro said they were compiling data and expected to have an estimate of crop damage in the next few days.
The regional government in Castilla-Leon forecast earlier this month that farmers there would harvest 45 percent less wheat and 47 percent less barley than last year.
A sharp drop in prices led farmers to plant 8.5 percent less land to wheat and barley last winter, and many also cut back on costly fertiliser.
Light rain in recent weeks has prompted farmers' unions and grain merchants to predict this summer's grain harvest in Spain will fall to 13.5-15.4 million tonnes from a bumper 23.3 million last year.
Dealers said predictions of a poor domestic harvest were adding to recent upward pressure on prices <GRAES01>.
"The forecasts are not helping when we see increasing tension in other origins," a trader said.
Even with a bumper harvest like last year's, Spain cannot meet its grain needs and in the crop year ending in June is expected to import around 8 million tonnes.
Farmers have already made a tentative start on the wheat harvest in southern region Andalusia, but field work is not expected to gather pace until next week.