FAOâ??s forecast for world cereal*production*in 2021 has been lowered by
2.1 million tonnes since the previous report in November and now stands
at 2 791 million tonnes, still 0.7 percent (19.2 million tonnes) higher
than the previous yearâ??s outturn and marking a new record. The
month-to-month downgrade is primarily the result of an anticipated
marginally smaller global coarse grains outturn, reflecting reduced
forecasts for barley and sorghum production, which more than offset an
upward revision to global maize production on better-than-expected
harvests in Ukraine and the United States of America.

Nonetheless, pegged at 1 503 million tonnes, the world coarse grains
production forecast remains 1.4 percent higher on a yearly basis. As
regards wheat, latest reports from Brazil and the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland indicating smaller harvests compared
to earlier expectations have resulted in a slightly lower global
production forecast, now pegged at 769.6 million tonnes, reinforcing an
expected year-on-year decline of 1 percent.

As for rice, official assessments in Pakistan indicate that a record
crop was harvested this season, overturning previous FAO expectations of
a slight drop in output due to water constraints in some provinces.
Combined with a yield-based upgrade for the United States of America,
this revision compensates for somewhat less buoyant expectations for
production in Thailand, owing to September/October floods, and in
Bangladesh, due to a slightly lower than previously envisaged main-crop
yields. As a result, global rice production in 2021 is still seen around
518 million tonnes (milled basis), up 0.9 percent year-on-year and a
fresh peak.

FAO Cereal Supply and Demand Brief | World Food Situation | Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
[www.fao.org]