The wheat crop was revised down from 140.5 million tonnes to 138.8 million tonnes, which would also be lower than the 141.6 million tonnes reached in 2017. COCERAL noted reductions have been made for Germany, Scandinavia, all Baltic countries as well as Romania due to the ongoing dryness. Crops in France and Spain, in turn, have been revised up.
The E.U.’s barley production forecast was slightly revised up to 60.8 million tonnes from 60.3 million tonnes, with a higher crop now seen for France and most notably Spain more than offsetting expected losses in the dry aforementioned areas. The 2017 crop stood at 58.1 million tonnes.
Although still early in the season, the E.U.’s corn crop projection was revised down to 60.3 million tonnes from 61.7 million tonnes due to a bad start in several countries and a downward revision in the Romanian area. In 2017, production was at 59.9 million tonnes.
The rapeseed production forecast for the E.U. was revised down significantly to 21.1 million tonnes from 22 million tonnes.
“Weather over the coming months, however, will be crucial for crop development and final yields and deviations from the aforementioned forecasts are not unlikely therefore,” COCERAL said.
