An improved crop outlook in Ukraine is expected to mostly offset lower output from the United States, with the International Grains Council on Thursday only slightly lowering its global corn production forecast for the 2018/19 season. In a monthly report, the inter-governmental body trimmed its forecast for world corn (maize) production in the 2018/19 season by 1 million tonnes to 1.073 billion tonnes, reflecting a downward revision in the US crop.
The group noted, however, that stronger Ukrainian production was expected to mostly help make up for the drop in US supplies. The IGC lowered its forecast for the US corn crop to 371.5 million tonnes, from 375.4 million tonnes forecast in the previous month.
Expectations for Ukrainian production were revised up to 33.5 million tonnes, from the prior month's forecast for 30 million tonnes. The IGC maintained its forecast for world wheat production in 2018/19 at 729 million tonnes.