Brussels  - Farmers in Europe should see bumper cereal crops this year, but it is too early to predict what impact this will have on food prices, officials in Brussels said Thursday.

"Favourable weather conditions and an increase in the planted area farmed should lead to a total cereals harvest close to 301 million tons for this year in the European Union, 43 million tons more than in 2007," a press release from the European Commission, the EU's executive, said.

That works out as a 16-per-cent increase over 2007's poor harvest, and a 9-per-cent rise compared with the average production over the last five years, the statement said.

However, officials refused to comment on what impact the bumper crop could have on European and world food prices.

"We cannot speculate on the consequences for prices: obviously it's a positive element for Europe, but other elements are also important, especially the state of stocks around the world," a commission spokeswoman said.

According to commission figures, this year's wheat crop should be 10.4 per cent larger than in 2007, and 6.1 per cent larger than the average crop over the last five years.

Maize crops, meanwhile, are expected to be a full 20.1 per cent bigger than last year, and 9.5 per cent above the average.

The maize figures represent a major relief for farmers in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, whose crops were blighted by a drought in 2007. Hungary and Romania look set to roughly double their output compared with last year, while Bulgaria is set to almost triple its. (dpa)