The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has updated its forecast
on the worldwide cereal production as at the end of 2017 to stand at 2,640
million tonnes, reports NaijaAgroNet.
The forecast, NaijaAgroNet gathered, has been raised by 13.5
million tonnes since December, with coarse grains driving the bulk of the
increase, due largely to higher maize output expected in China, Mexico and the
European Union.
Also, FAO raised its 2017 production forecasts for wheat,
due to expectations of bigger harvests in Canada and the Russian Federation,
and for rice, following an upward revision in China.
NaijaAgroNet reports that projected cereal utilization in
the 2017/18 season was also raised, now up 1.4 per cent from 2016/17. Just as the
upward revision includes a notable jump for coarse grains, whose use for
livestock feed is forecast to reach an all-time high on the back of sizable
increases projected for Brazil, China, the EU and Mexico.
As cereal output, NaijaAgroNet report, is seen expanding
more than utilization, stocks are projected to rise above their already high
opening levels, leading to a comfortable world stocks-to-use ratio of 27.7
percent, the highest since 2001/02.
In a related development the international trade volumes, are
expected to contract slightly for all the major cereals except maize.
Isaac Oyimah/GEE
