Excess rainfall continued in Benelux, western Germany, north-eastern France and northern Italy, negatively affecting crop growth and field operations, JRC MARS reports. The crop monitoring agency forecasts generally average yields, with slightly better than average yields in the east of the continent. JRC MARS estimates sugar beet yields for the EU at 74.4 tonnes/hectare versus a 5yr average of 73.2 tonnes/ha. The sowing of summer crops is still ongoing in several regions; with an overall delay of up to two months. In southern Germany, recent intense rainfall events led to water logging and local floods after previously favourable conditions. In eastern Germany, south-western Poland and north-eastern Poland soil moisture levels are depleting, so far without negative impacts on crops. This is not the case in parts of Hungary, Romania, Ukraine and Russia, where a lasting water deficit negatively affected the yield expectations for winter crops. In Spain, where overall yield expectations are positive, heatwaves in June worsened the condition of winter crops in some parts in the east that had already been affected by water stress. Sugar beet sowing has not been totally completed yet in Benelux, JRC MARS said. Weather conditions - the high rainfall in particular – have been unfavourable. Although conditions improved in the first week of June, soon afterwards it started raining again. Such delays come with a yield penalty, and are likely to lead to late harvesting in autumn, when soil moisture conditions also tend to be unfavourable. Pest and disease pressure also remains high, but the incidence of aphids, which can transmit the leaf yellows virus in sugar beet, has been manageable so far. German sugar beet yield estimates were revised downwards.