February 18, 2011

Strategie Grains cuts most EU's 2011 grain yield estimates

French analyst Strategie Grains trimmed its projections on Thursday (Feb 17) for most of the EU's 2011 grain harvest with the barley harvest trimmed to the largest extent due to lower estimates in western and northern EU countries.

Strategie Grains pegged the EU 2011 barley crop at 55.2 million tonnes, down from 55.8 million tonnes estimated last month but still above the 52.9 million produced in 2009/2010.

For soft wheat, the analyst put its crop estimate at 135.5 million tonnes for 2011, nearly unchanged from the 135.6 million tonnes forecast in January.

The soft wheat crop was now expected to be 7% higher on the sharply revised 126.6 million tonnes harvested in 2010/11.

Strategie Grains also reduced its forecast of the EU's corn crop now expected at 58.3 million tonnes, against 58.6 million tonnes estimated last month and 55.2 million produced in 2010/2011, to reflect lower forecasts for corn area in France and Southern Europe.

In total, the analyst now sees the EU's grains production, at 289.8 million tonnes, down from 290.9 million tonnes pegged last month but still 5.5% higher than last year.