PARIS: Strategie Grains has edged up its forecast for the European Union’s 2024 soft wheat harvest reflecting favourable conditions in Spain, but output was still expected to fall sharply from last year due to heavy rain elsewhere, it said.

The French crop consultancy now expects EU soft wheat production of 121.8 million metric tons in the 2024/25 season, up from a forecast of 121.6 million in March but more than 3% lower than last year. The firm’s analysts made bigger revisions to projected barley and maize production this year as they adjusted area estimates.

For barley, Strategie Grains increased its forecast for the next EU harvest by 0.7 million tons to 52.5 million tons, up 10.5% from last year’s drought-hit crop.

This year’s EU maize crop was projected at 63.4 million, down about 1 million tons from its March forecast though nearly 3% above last year’s level.