World cereals output in 2011 will be lower than expected with adverse weather hitting European and US crops, while output will undershoot consumption this year keeping prices volatile, the UN's food agency said on Tuesday.
The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has cut its global grain estimates just as farm ministers from the G20 group of the world leading economies are meeting in France to work out ways to ease the threat of food shortages and rein in surging prices.
The FAO has cut its forecast of world cereals output to 2.302 billion tonnes in 2011 from an earlier estimate of 2.315 billion tonnes, driven by an official cut in US corn forecast and lower wheat and barley crops expected in the European Union. Earlier this month, the US Agriculture Department cut its estimate for the US corn crop. World cereals utilisation in the 2011/12 season is forecast to rise 1.2 percent from the previous season, down from a 2 percent rise in 2010/11 due to a slowdown in the pace of growth in demand for biofuels production, the FAO said. It has cut its view on 2011 world wheat output to 671 million tonnes from an earlier estimate of 674 million tonnes after bad weather hit US and EU crops, but confirmed its forecast of strong output recovery in Russia after 2010 drought.
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