Global wheat production will rise to a record 717mn tonnes in the 2014-15 season and 0.6 per cent higher than the previous year, UK-based International Grains Council (IGC) said
Amid an improving outlook for supplies from the EU and Ukraine, the IGC said also raised its forecast for global corn production to 974mn tonnes, 0.1 per cent more than the August estimate while still below last year’s record harvest of 983mn tonnes.
IGC said, “Wheat output is already seen at its highest ever level, while prospects for exceptional yields in the US and EU help to boost the global maize forecast to within one per cent of last season’s biggest-ever crop.
“Expectations for large grains, rice and oilseeds supplies continued to weigh on global export prices.”
EU’s wheat production was estimated at 153.1mn tonnes, higher than last month’s forecast of 150.8mn tonnes, the IGC said. Ukraine’s wheat harvest was pegged at 23mn tonnes, more than August’s forecast of 21.5mn tonnes, the IGC said.
World inventories of wheat at the end of the 2014-15 season may total 195mn tonnes, unchanged from August’s forecast while up 4.3 per cent from the prior year, according to the report.
