December 12, 2011

EU grain, oilseed 2011 forecast rise to 129.64 million tonnes

EU grain trade lobby, Coceral, revised its forecast for the bloc's soft wheat crop in 2011 to 129.64 million tonnes on Friday (Dec 9), higher against 128.39 million tonnes estimated in October.

Top EU producer France is expected to harvest 33.95 million tonnes of soft wheat this year, Coceral said, up slightly from its October forecast, but down nearly 5% compared with 35.66 million tonnes in 2010.

Coceral increased its estimate of the 27-nation bloc's corn harvest in 2011 by 3.6% to 65.23 million tonnes, compared with 62.95 million previously. That would represent a huge 18.5% increase in output compared with 55.05 million tonnes last year.

The EU grain lobby also raised its barley crop forecast for this year to 51.87 million tonnes, which would see production in 2011 slip by 2.2% compared with last year.

The total oilseed crop in 2011 was pegged at 28.28 million tonnes, slightly up from 27.90 million tonnes in October.