EU trims wheat crop estimate to new 12-year low, raises maize
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PARIS, Nov 28 (Reuters) -The European Commission on Thursday cut its estimate of the European Union's main wheat crop to new 12-year low but raised its forecast of the ongoing EU maize harvest to end a run of six monthly downward revisions.
In supply and demand data, the Commission trimmed its estimate of usable production of common wheat, or soft wheat, in the EU in 2024/25 to 112.3 million metric tons from 112.6 million a month ago.
That was 10% below the previous crop and the lowest since 2012/13.
The EU harvest was marked by the smallest crop in France since the 1980s after repeated heavy rain in the past year.
The reduced harvest estimate and a slight increase in projected use of wheat in livestock feed led to the Commission to cut its forecast of soft wheat stocks at the end of 2024/25 to 9.8 million tons from 10.4 million a month ago.
Forecast EU soft wheat exports were kept unchanged at 25.0 million tons, down from 35.3 million in 2023/24.
For maize, the Commission raised its forecast for EU output to 59.6 million tons from 58.0 million last month, though still nearly 3% below last year.
The EU's executive body had reduced sharply its outlook for the maize harvest in recent months as summer drought and heatwaves withered crops in the southeast Europe.
However, in a summary of its overall cereal production adjustments by country, the Commission said it had made the biggest upward revision for Romania, followed by France.
A bigger maize crop has been widely anticipated in France this year.
The increased production estimate, along with a 0.5 million rise in forecast maize imports to 19.5 million, led the Commission to lift its projection of EU maize stocks in 2024/25 to 19.4 million tons from 17.4 million a month ago.
Expected barley production in the EU was kept at 49.8 million tons, but forecast end-of-season stocks were lowered to 2.6 million tons from 3.2 million as beginning stocks and imports were revised down.
Reporting by Gus Trompiz; editing by Mark Heinrich and David Evans
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