World: Global grains production forecast cut on lower than expected corn and barley harvests

The forecast for global grains production in the current 2023-24 season has been lowered on poor corn and barley harvests, the International Grains Council said in a report on October 19.

The IGC now expects global grain output at 2.292 billion metric tons, slightly lower than September's estimate of 2.294 billion tons. It still remains a sharp rise on the prior year's harvest of 2.265 billion tons.

The forecast cut is due to lower-than-expected corn and barley harvests, the grains body said. As for corn, it expects output of 1.219 billion tons in 2023-24, down from 1.222 billion tons at last month's forecast. However, this is still up sharply from the prior-year harvest of 1.162 billion tons when drought in Europe severely hampered crop growth.

Meanwhile, wheat output is expected at 785 million tons while rice is expected at 521 million tons.

E-malt.com, the global information source for the brewing and malting industry professionals. The bi-weekly E-malt.com Newsletters feature latest industry news, statistics in graphs and tables, world barley and malt prices, and other relevant information. Click here to get full access to E-malt.com. If you are a Castle Malting client, you can get free access to E-malt.com website and publications. Contact us for more information at marketing@castlemalting.com .