July 31, 2010
EU expects lower grain output in 2010-11
Grain production in the EU is forecast to fall by 15 million tonnes in the new season compared with the previous year due to lower yields and reduced planting acreage, a German grain trading house said Friday (Jul 30).
Total grain production in the EU is expected to fall to between 275 million tonnes and 280 million tonnes in the 2010-11 crop season, with wheat expected to fall to between 126 million tonnes and 129 million tonnes, figures from Toepfer International showed.
Yields for the 2010-11 season are predicted to be slightly lower than last season with average output at 4.9 tonnes a hectare due to a recent spate of hot weather that has cut production forecasts in Europe's key growing regions and sent wheat prices in Paris soaring to near two-year highs this week.
However, the production fall is also caused by a reduction in grain plantings in the region this season, which at an estimated 56.5 million hectares this year is far below the 58.2 million hectares of the previous year, Toepfer said.
The 2.9% decline from the 2009-10 crop season was due to farmers in Spain and France choosing to plant more heavily subsidised crops, such as peas, and the growing demand for silage corn in Germany, Toepfer added.
German wheat production is expected to fall by between 1.2 million tonnes and 2.2 million tonnes this year after hot, dry conditions in key growing areas in recent weeks severely affected crop development.
Yields in Europe's second-largest wheat grower are expected to fall for the 2010-11 crop season due to a recent heatwave, bringing production down to between 23 million tonnes and 24 million tonnes this year, from 25.2 million tonnes in the previous harvest, Toepfer said.
Total grain production in Germany is expected to fall to between 44 million tonnes and 45 million tonnes this year from 49.6 million tonnes in 2009-10. Wheat and winter barley are the worst-hit crops due to high temperatures during the seed-filling phase, according to Toepfer.
