Crop Strategie Grains, a consulting firm, has again cut its forecast for wheat and barley production in the European Union this year, partly due to drought in Hungary, but said recent rains in the EU have eased drought and left decent prospects for harvesting.
In a monthly report on cereals published on Thursday May 16, the French company lowered its April forecast for soft wheat production in the EU in the upcoming 2019/20 season from 144.8 million tons to 143.9 million tons. This is 13 percent higher than last year’s drought-affected wheat crop in the EU.
The expected volume of barley production in 2019/20 decreased from 61.0 million tons to 60.3 million tons, which is 8 percent higher than the volume of production in 2018/19.
“Harvest forecasts remain good, and EU, wheat, barley and corn are still expected to be higher than last year. However, this month we are reducing our crop forecasts by almost 1 million tons for wheat and 700,000 tons for barley, ”the Strategie Grains report says.
Strategie Grains also slightly reduced the April forecast for corn production in the European Union for 2019/20 from 63.1 million tons to 62.9 million tons, which is 2% more than in 2018/19.
