EU (9 June)
The EU’s aggregate cereal output in 2005 is now forecast at 260 million tonnes, 30 million tonnes down from the record crop last year, reflecting an expected decline in yields after 2004’s exceptional high levels. Nevertheless, apart from Spain and Portugal where drought has devastated this year’s crop prospects, yields and outputs are forecast to remain above the five-year average in most countries. In the Iberian Peninsula, where dry weather has prevailed throughout the season so far, output of cereals in Spain, one of the EU’s main producers of wheat, barley and maize is now forecast to drop by 33 percent from last year’s good crop and 25 percent compared to the average of the past five years. Similarly large losses are expected in Portugal.