PARIS, FRANCE — With upward revisions to soft wheat imports and production, the European Union’s ending stocks forecast was raised in the European Commission’s monthly supply and demand data, Reuters reported.
The Commission projected stocks of soft wheat at 19.1 million tonnes at the end of the 2023-24 marketing year. While this is up from last month’s estimate of 18.4 million tonnes, it remained below last season’s 19.4 million tonnes.
The report pegged EU usable soft wheat production at 125.9 million tonnes for 2023-24, up 200,000 tonnes from December’s estimate and slightly higher than 125.8 million tonnes in 2022-23.
The 2023-24 soft wheat import projection was increased to 7 million tonnes, up 500,000 tonnes from last month, though the volume would remain well below the 9.6 million tonnes in 2022-23. Exports were forecast at 31 million tonnes, down from 32.68 million tonnes last season.
The Commission’s 2023-24 outlook for barley production was raised slightly to 47.4 million tonnes, though that would still be a 12-year low.
The corn harvest outlook remained unchanged from December at 61.4 million tonnes, while exports were trimmed 300,000 tonnes, to 4.5 million tonnes. Imports were forecast at 19 million tonnes.
