Strategie Grains Cuts French Wheat/Barley Production

Strategie Grains cut its forecast for the EU’s 2019 wheat and barley production.  However the agri-consulting firm acknowledged that recent rain across the EU had eased dryness and left decent harvest prospects.

The production cuts reflect smaller acreage in Denmark and Czech Republic, and drought damage in Hungary

EU soft wheat production in the upcoming 2019/20 season is forecasted at  143.9MMT up from 144.8 million forecast in April.

Barley production in 2019/20 was cut to 60.3MMT from 61.0MMT,  8% YoY

Rains arrived in late April/early May, lifting earlier concerns across much of the EU although some pockets of drought persist in central and north EU countries.

What It Means For The US Farmer: At FBN we believe that the EU wheat production is a negative for the U.S. farmer.  There are some dry spots in Europe but our opinion is that aggregate production is set to recover from 2018 and will pose a challenge to the US hard and soft wheat export programs.  We continue to maintain that absent a global production shock, the U.S. remains the wheat supplier of last resort.                     

agweb.com