Experts lowered the forecast for wheat production in the EU

Analysts at Refinitiv Commodities Research have lowered the forecast for soft wheat production in the EU countries in 2023/24 MY by 1.7 million tons compared to the previously announced figure - to 132.2 million tons, which, however, still exceeds the result of the previous season (126. 7 million tons).

Also, the forecast for durum wheat harvest was reduced by 500 thousand tons - to 7.8 million tons (7.3 million tons a season earlier).

As explained, the decrease in estimates is due to the lack of precipitation, which is observed in the southern and southwestern regions of Europe and worsens the conditions for the development of winter wheat crops.

In addition, due to the lack of precipitation in southwestern Europe, in particular in Greece, Bulgaria and Spain, the potential for rapeseed production in the EU is reduced. In this regard, the forecast for oilseed production in MY 2023/24 was reduced by 200 thousand tons compared to the preliminary estimate - to 20.4 million tons (+0.9 million tons per year).

At the same time, experts add that preliminary weather forecasts for April indicate a possible excess of rainfall almost throughout Europe.