LONDON (Reuters) — The International Grains Council on Friday raised its forecast for 2013-14 global wheat production by four million tonnes to 691 million, reflecting upward revisions to crops in Canada, the European Union, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.
The global wheat crop is now expected to be almost six percent above the previous season’s 654 million tonnes.
Global carryover stocks are expected to rise a modest two million tonnes on the year to 176 million, as a jump in China’s import needs was expected to absorb some of the production increase.
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“While near record global output of 691 million tonnes is forecast, export demand has been solid, in part due to quality issues with China’s crop, which has provided some support,” the IGC said in its monthly report.
Rains damaged wheat crops in Henan, China’s biggest wheat growing area, during harvest.
The IGC raised China’s import needs by 200,000 tonnes from the previous report’s forecast to 7.2 million tonnes, more than double the 3.4 million tonnes the country imported in 2012/13.
Global 2013-14 wheat trade was revised up two million tonnes from the previous report to 141 million, a slight rise from 140 million the previous year.
In corn, the IGC raised its global 2013-14 crop forecast by three million tonnes to 945 million.
This would be a record crop and represents a 10 percent increase on 2012-13 output, boosted by a rebound in U.S. production, the IGC said.
