BRUSSELS, BELGIUM — The European Commission in a report released on April 5 said it anticipates increased grain production and exports in the European Union (EU) in 2022.
“Proposed measures to increase the EU’s arable crops production will allow farmers to increase their sowing area for (corn), sunflowers and protein crops,” the Commission said. “As a result, the 2022 EU harvest may be a very good one for cereals and for oilseeds, provided normal weather conditions prevail.”
EU grain production is projected to reach 297.7 million tonnes for the 2022 harvest. Together with a reduced demand for feed due to lower pigmeat production and reduced use of grain for biofuel, it could help to soften the impact the expected lack of grain exports from Ukraine may have on global markets, the Commission said.
Grain exports are expected to increase by 14% this marketing year (until end of June), largely driven by an additional 5.6 million tonnes of soft wheat compared to the previous season.
“This may increase further after the 2022 summer harvest, with net exports of EU cereals potentially increasing by almost 40% to 41.4 million tonnes from July 2022 to June 2023 (the 2022-23 marketing year).
The Commission noted that oilseed prices have skyrocketed since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February, with rapeseed and sunflower seed prices reaching €1,000 per tonne. It said EU oilseed production is not a concern, as it is estimated to grow by 6.5% to 30.2 million tonnes this marketing year and projected to increase to 32.2 million tonnes in 2022-23. The latter would include 11.2 million tonnes of sunflower seeds.
Source: World Grain
APR
2022
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