Cereal production across the 27 EU member states is predicted to reach 257.3 million tonnes this year, a drop of 4.7% when compared to 2023.
The poor outlook for cereals has been issued by experts from Copa Cogeca, the group of EU farm organisations, who have examined the prospects for harvest 2024.
The organisation said that it will be a stable year for oilseeds with production expected to decrease by 1% to 31.9 million tonnes.
There is a more positive picture for protein crops which are expected to experience a boost of 13% to 3.9 million tonnes.
Cereal
Copa Cogeca said that yields for cereals across the EU are currently expected to slightly decrease by 1.2% for 2024, while the total area sown will be down by around 3.5%.
The report forecasts a 6.3% drop in wheat production, while barley is anticipated to decline by 9%. Maize is expected to remain stable and oats will increase by 21%.
The experts said that an increase in cereal production in Spain of 3 million tonnes will not be enough to offset losses in northern, central and eastern member states.
Production in France is expected to be back by 9 million tonnes, it will be down by around 3 million tonnes in Poland.
The data shows an drop in winter wheat production in Ireland, while there is an increase expected in spring wheat.
Oilseeds are quite stable with a small decrease in the area (-1.6%) but slightly improving yields (+0.7%) which led to a small production decrease compared to 2023.
This is mainly due to a reduction of both the sown area and the yields for rapeseed.
The situation for protein crops is “overall very positive”, apart from France where a year-to-year reduction of 16% is expected, mainly due to yields.
Copa Cogeca warned that for cereals, oilseeds and protein crops across the EU, “the coming weeks will be crucial and might very well change the situation”.