MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

World 2020 cereal production forecasted to reach new record

Wheat production forecasts have been raised for India and the Russian Federation, more than offsetting a cutback to the EU and the UK expected outputs.

World cereal production is poised to reach a new record level of 2 790 million tons in 2020 - up 9.3 million tons from the May forecast - surpassing the record-high registered in 2019 by as much as 3%, according to FAO's Cereal Supply and Demand Brief.

Wheat production forecasts have been raised for India and the Russian Federation, more than offsetting a cutback to the EU and the UK expected outputs.

The forecast of world coarse grains production in 2020 has also been revised up to 1 519 million tons, up 5.7 million tons from the previous month, reflecting expectations of larger outputs of barley in Australia, the EU and Turkey.

FAO's global rice production forecast for 2020 is now pegged at 509.2 million tons, 400 000 tons above June's figure, primarily reflecting improved prospects for South American countries, where conducive weather raised yield expectations to all time-highs.

World cereal utilization in the year ahead is forecast to rise to 2 735 million tons - 1.6% up from the previous month's forecast, mostly driven by an upturn in feed and industrial uses of coarse grains compared to earlier expectations. World rice utilization is also predicted to reach a fresh peak of 510.4 million tons in 2020/21, 1.6% up from June, based on expanding food use.

Reflecting new production and consumption forecasts, FAO now expects world cereal stocks by the end of seasons in 2021 to reach 929 million tonnes, representing a robust year-on-year expansion of 6.0 percent. This would drive the global cereal stock to use ratio in 2020/21 to a twenty-year high of 33.0 percent, highlighting the comfortable global supply prospects in the new season.