EU wheat forecasts trimmed in global wheat production estimates

World wheat production is still forecast to fall 2.4 per cent for 2010-11 compared with estimates for the 2009-10 crop year, stated the IGC.

"Conditions in the northern hemisphere remained mostly beneficial, but the crop forecast for the EU is trimmed,"​ the IGC said.

EU wheat output ​

Earlier this month, Peter Duggan, business analyst with the Irish food board (An Bord Bia), stated that a recovery in French, German and British wheat output is expected to lead to overall EU production increasing by three per cent to 134m tonnes.

The analyst, citing forecasts from Strategie Grains, claims that within the top three EU wheat producers, namely France, Germany and Spain, output is expected to grow by four per cent to 79 million tonnes due to a combination of higher planted areas and some anticipated yield improvement on 2009, according to the report.

Total EU wheat availability is expected to rise almost in line with production forecasts, he added, and with little change in EU domestic use and trade, closing stocks are expected to rise.

EU wheat availability should rise by two per cent by the end of the 2010/11 season to 155 million tonnes on the back of imports increasing by 41 per cent to almost five million tonnes and production being there per cent higher.

Flour exporters​

The IGC report also shows Kazakhstan still remaining as the world’s leading flour exporting country, with shipments forecast at three million tonnes of wheat equivalent.

Second in global flour exporting rankings was Turkey, with its outgo placed at 2.5 million tonnes of wheat equivalent, and the EU and Argentina are tied for third place with the outgo for each forecast at 1.3 million tonnes of wheat equivalent.