PARIS 03/27/2002 (Reuters) : EU rapeseed production is seen rebounding in2002, buoyed by a rise in sowings in Germany and generally favourable cropconditions, analysts and traders said.A French oilseeds analyst said he expected the EU to harvest 9.75 milliontonnes of rapeseed in 2002.That would be up 840,000 tonnes, or 9.4 percent, from Hamburg-basednewsletter Oil World's recent estimate of the 2001 EU rapeseed crop.In France analysts said winter rapeseed had benefited from mild weather inrecent weeks. A year ago heavy rains undermined the crop."So far, so good," said Fabien Lagarde of the French technical oilseedscentre Cetiom. "Rapeseed crops are growing well everywhere."Despite a slight drop in French winter rapeseed sowings, Lagarde and otheranalysts expected the 2002 rapeseed crop to rise to around 3.2 milliontonnes from 2.9 million last season.In Germany, analysts reported rain damage in March but still hoped for abigger crop following a jump in sowings."It is still hard to judge the impact from any rain damage on the harvestas plantings are up 13 percent on last year, (but) we are still lookingfor a larger crop this year," a trader said.Oil World has pegged the coming rapeseed crop in Germany at 4.35 milliontonnes, up from 4.168 million in 2001.It rained constantly in Germany in March, which damages crops on poorlydrained soils in the northern regions of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holsteinand Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.But another analyst stressed that the damage had been isolated and thatthe crop would likely be up on the year.In Britain, the area fell slightly but the drop was seen largely offset byfavourable weather.Plantings were thriving almost too well, agronomists said, with little orno disease seen."The crops look quite good, the disease levels are relatively low andwe're probably now just one or two weeks off starting to flower onrapeseed," said John Garstang of leading crop consultants ADAS."If anything, they're probably a bit thick and there may be some problemswith some of the crop heads falling," he added.British rapeseed output this year was seen at 1.2 million tonnes, justabove last year's 1.13 million, Garstang said.According to the latest data released by Britain's Department forEnvironment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), British farmers had plantedrapeseed on 341,000 hectares by December 3, 2001, down from 345,000 halast year.-Reuters