The EU will harvest the minimum barley crop in 12 years

The European Commission on Thursday raised its forecast for usable corn production in the European Union in 2023/24 MY to 61.4 million tons from 59.9 million tons forecast a month ago.

The revised estimate was 15.6% higher than last year’s drought-stricken crop, although 10.8% lower than the five-year average, according to the Commission’s monthly report on grain supply and demand.

The European Commission has lowered its forecast for corn imports to the bloc in 2023/24 to 19.0 million tons from 20.0 million tons forecast a month ago.

As for common wheat, or durum wheat, the projected production in 2023/24 was increased to 125.7 million tons from 125.6 million tons previously and is almost in line with the production in 2022/23 of 125.8 million tons.

The projected EU soft wheat exports in 2023/24 MY remained unchanged at 31.0 million tons, while the projected end-of-season soft wheat stocks were slightly increased to 18.4 million tons from 18.3 million tons last month.

Projected EU barley production in 2023/24 MY was revised up to 47.3 million from 46.9 million previously, although this would still be a 12-year low following drought-affected harvests in Spain and Northern Europe.

As for oilseeds, rapeseed production was cut to 19.8 million tons from 19.9 million tons last month, but this was still higher than the 19.6 million tons last season.

Sunflower seed production was increased to 10.2 million tons from the 10.0 million tons forecast last month, which is even higher than the 2022/23 harvest of 9.3 million tons.

Tags: sunseed, rapeseed, crop forecast, corn, grain, barley, EU, soybean, wheat