The U.S. Department of Agriculture, in its December report, maintains its forecasts for wheat production in Russia for the current agricultural year (July 2023 - June 2024) at 90 million tonnes, with the estimate for ending stocks remaining unchanged at 11.94 million tonnes.
The forecast for wheat exports from Russia also remains unchanged at 50 million tonnes.
However, corn forecasts have been raised. Corn production is increasing from 16 million to 17 million tonnes for the current agricultural year. Russia may export 5.3 million tonnes of corn, and ending stocks will amount to 1.06 million tonnes (compared to 0.76 million in the previous forecast).
Production of feed grains is also increasing to 43.2 million tonnes (+1 million), exports remain unchanged at 11.31 million tonnes, and ending stocks are increasing to 2.07 million tonnes (compared to 1.77 million in the November report).
The wheat export forecast for Russia's main competitor, the European Union, remains unchanged at 37.5 million tonnes. The forecast for wheat production in the EU also remains unchanged at 134.3 million tonnes.
The wheat harvest forecast in Ukraine, as in the previous report, is 22.5 million tonnes. Ending stocks will decrease by 500 thousand tonnes, reaching 2.58 million. The forecast for wheat exports from Ukraine has been raised to 12.5 million tonnes (+0.5 million). The forecast for corn production has been raised from 29.5 million to 30.5 million tonnes. Corn exports have also been increased to 21 million tonnes (+1 million).
Wheat production in Kazakhstan remains at 12 million tonnes. The export forecast also remains unchanged at 10 million tonnes. The estimate for ending stocks remains unchanged at 1.32 million tonnes.
The global forecast for wheat production in the new agricultural year is raised to 783.01 million tonnes (+1.03 million tonnes from November), while feed grain production is projected at 1.50199 billion tonnes (1.49931 billion tonnes in the previous report) and corn at 1.22207 billion tonnes (1.22079 billion tonnes).
The U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasts do not include data on Crimea and new territories.