January 19, 2006

EU 2006/07 cereal output up 5 percent on-year
 

The European Union will produce 268.2 million metric tonnes of grain in the 2006-07 season, up 5 percent from last year, according to Strategie Grains, a monthly analytical report published Thursday.

This forecast is nearly unchanged from last month's forecast of 268.7 million tonnes.

The EU winter crops are currently in good condition in most countries, especially as there have been no sudden drops in temperature and a blanket of snow has protected plants from freezing temperatures in Austria, Germany, and Poland, said the report.

EU soft wheat output in 2006-07 is forecast at 121.2 million tonnes, down slightly from last month's forecast of 121.9 million tonnes, but still up 5 percent on the year. The downward revision was made through a small decrease in planted area.

Corn production was estimated at 49.8 million tonnes, down from 50.0 million last month, but up 1 percent on the year. The barley crop was forecast at 57.3 million tonnes, down from 57.2 million tonnes last week, but up 7 percent from 2005-06.

Strategie Grains did highlight that Hungary was hit by some flooding that made fields susceptible to frost damage. However the report added that so far there as been few cold threats for the affected region

In France and especially Spain, water levels have been drawn down due to insufficient rainfall needed to replenish reserves following this summer's drought. But at the current state of the growth cycle, plants have had low water requirements, said the report.

Strategie Grains revised its 2005-06 EU grain output estimate this month by 1.3 million tonnes from its previous forecast, to 256.2 million tonnes.

This was mostly due to a 800,000 tonne increase in the group's corn crop forecast to 49.1 million tonnes, with upward revisions in Italy, Hungary and Austria.