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“Corn imports could be greater than ever. And grain prices are rising sharply,” said the author. The European Commission (EC), the EU's executive body, drastically reduced its cereal production forecast for the second time, to just 59.3 million tons, below the 65.8 million predicted a month ago, a cut of 10%.
This could be the smallest harvest in seven years as European corn has not survived several heatwaves in what is projected to be Europe's worst drought in recent years. The European Commission justifies that the correction in its forecasts mainly reflected yield drops in Romania, France, Bulgaria and Hungary, which are the largest corn producers in the European Union and export a significant part of their production to other countries in the bloc.
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The EU's executive body currently estimates the corn harvest for France at 11.7 million tonnes, down by no less than 34% from 15.7 million tonnes last year. As for Romania, the European Commission's projection was 11.6 million, against 15.2 million tons in the previous estimate. In Poland, Germany, Italy and Spain there were also strong downward corrections in harvest expectations.
By: Leonardo Gottems | agrolink
