EU cuts 2021/22 soft wheat crop forecast to 124.8mn tonnes

PARIS: The European Commission on Thursday lowered its forecast of usable production of common wheat in European Union's 27 member countries in 2021/22 to 124.8 million tonnes from an initial estimate of 126.7 million last month.

That would still be above 2020/21 production of common wheat, or soft wheat, of 117.2 million tonnes, the Commission's monthly supply and demand data showed.

The Commission also lowered its projection of soft wheat stocks at the end of 2021/22, to 11.4 million tonnes from 12.9 million last month, reflecting the reduced harvest forecast.

It kept unchanged its soft wheat demand outlook for the upcoming 2021/22 season that starts in July, including an unchanged export projection of 30.0 million tonnes.

For the current 2020/21 season, the Commission increased its soft wheat stocks forecast to 9.9 million tonnes from 9.5 million, mainly due to a 300,000 tonne increase in expected imports to 2.7 million tonnes.

Projected 2020/21 soft wheat exports were seen at 27.0 million tonnes, like last month.

In other cereals, the Commission reduced its forecast of EU usable production of barley in 2021/22 to 56.0 million tonnes from 56.3 million while raising slightly its outlook for usable maize output to 71.3 million tonnes from 71.2 million.

The Commission reduced its outlook for annual maize imports to 16.0 million tonnes for 2021/22 and 2020/21 having previously projected 16.5 million for both seasons.

In oilseeds, it trimmed its forecast for 2021/22 production to 16.5 million tonnes from 16.7 million last month.