UN expects record levels of cereal stocks
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) raised its forecast for global cereal production in 2023 to 2.819bn tonnes – 0.9 percent from last year, TASS reports
According to the organisation’s statement, the key reason for this increase was updated, more positive crop projections in Russia and Ukraine against the backdrop of ongoing favourable weather conditions. This compensates for a severe worsening in the Canadian output forecast caused by protracted drought in the country’s primary agricultural regions.
Global grain stocks at the end of next year’s season are expected to reach 884 million tonnes, which is 3 percent more than at the opening of the season and will be a record figure.
At the same time, the forecast for world grain consumption in the 2023-2024 season has been revised downward. Meanwhile, it was 0.8 percent higher than in the 2022-2023 season. This is explained by the expected increase in the volume of food consumption of wheat and a decrease in the use of wheat for feed purposes.
