The International Grains Council (IGC) on Thursday trimmed its forecast for global wheat production in the 2019/20 season as the outlook for Australia's crop dimmed. In its monthly update, the inter-governmental body cut its global wheat production projection by 2 million tonnes to 762 million tonnes.

The wheat crop in Australia was seen falling to 17.0 million tonnes, down from a previous forecast of 19.1 million and now below the prior season's 17.3 million.

Australia, once the world's fourth largest wheat exporter, is suffering from a third year of drought, resulting in a deep reduction in agriculture output.

Drought has also dented the outlook for Argentina's wheat crop which was downwardly revised to 19.5 million tonnes, down from a previous forecast of 20.4 million. The IGC also reduced its forecast for the global corn (maize) crop in 2019/20 by a marginal 1 million tonnes to 1.098 billion tonnes with a diminished outlook for Argentina partly offset by an upward revision for China.