At the end of dormancy and early spring growth winter wheat showed generally favorable condition in Hungary. Agroclimatic indicators were above average for rainfall and the biomass production potential (RAIN +19% and BIOMSS +16%), about average for TEMP (+0.6°C) but low for radiation (-5.2%).

The National NDVI values were above average in January to February and increased again in March to late April after a sharp drop at the beginning of March. According to the NDVI cluster profiles and maps, crop condition was above average throughout the reporting period in 17.8% of arable land and about average in 37% of the total arable land. In general, the east of the country experienced better overwintering conditions than the western half, up to the counties of Nograd, Pest and Bacs-kiskun. The national average VCIx was 0.87, and the cropped arable land fraction (CALF) increased by 1% compared to its five-year average. CropWatch estimates wheat production to increase 2.8% over 2017 values (yield up 4.2%, area 1.4% down).

Figure 3.38. Hungary crop condition, January - April 2018 

(a).Phenology of major crops

(b)Crop condition development graph based on NDVI     (c)Maximum VCI

(d)Spatial NDVI patterns compared to 5YA       (e) NDVI profiles

Table 3. ...  CropWatch-estimated wheat production for Hungary in 2018 (thousand tons)