Final quality results from this year's French soft wheat harvest showed 41% of the crop had an average protein content above the key level of 11.5%, compared to a five-year average of 58%, farm office FranceAgriMer said on Wednesday.

The national average for protein content in this year's crop was 11.4%, the office said without giving a comparison for recent years.

For test weights, another measure of milling quality, the survey conducted with crop institute Arvalis showed that 28% of the 2024 crop had test weights above the 76 kg/hl threshold against a five-year average of 75%.

Months of heavy rain since the autumn cut wheat planting and yields in France, the European Union's biggest grain producer.

The lower test weights were due to a lack of sun during the filling of the grains combined with regular rainfall during the harvest, FranceAgriMer said.

The survey also showed that 99% of this year's crop had Hagberg falling numbers, another milling specification, above 240 seconds, up from a five-year average of 87%.

Source: Reuters (Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide; editing by Jason Neely, Kirsten Donovan)