Consultancy Strategie Grains on Thursday increased its monthly forecast of this year's soft wheat harvest in the European Union by 1.2 million tonnes to 142.6 million tonnes due to favourable growing conditions in the 28-country bloc. The raised estimate would still be 4 percent below a record 2014 harvest that Strategie Grains put at 149.3 million tonnes.
The return of rain at the end of April boosted cereal crops after a dry start to spring, although moisture deficits in Spain, Hungary and Croatia would need to be monitored, it said in its monthly report. The raised EU wheat crop forecast mainly reflected higher yields that led to a 1 million tonne upward revision shared between Germany, Denmark, France, Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic, Strategie Grains said.
It also lifted its outlook for EU barley production this year, putting the crop at 58.6 million tonnes, up 0.5 million tonnes from last month's estimate but still down 3 percent compared with 2014. Grain maize output was revised down by 0.6 million tonnes to 67.5 million, mostly due to reduced area estimates in a number of countries. Projected 2015 production would now be 11 percent down from a record harvest last year of 75.5 million tonnes.
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