Source: APKinform (Ukraine)
The total area planted to cereals in the EU will fall by 3.5% year-on-year to 48.569 million hectares by 2024, according to the latest report from experts Copa-Cogeca. This, in turn, will lead to a 4.7% decline in grain production in the countries of the bloc, from 269.89 million tons in 2023 to 257.32 million tons this year, Feedlot reports.
In particular, the area under common wheat in the EU is expected to fall by 5% this year, from 21.769 million hectares to 20.686 million hectares. Grain production is also expected to fall significantly this year by 6.4% to 117.516 million tons, mainly due to a 1.5% drop in yields.
The area under durum wheat cultivation in the EU is also expected to fall by 7.5% to 1.981 million hectares in 2024. Despite a slight increase in yields (by 1.9%), total grain production will fall by 5.7% to 6.586 million tons.
The area under barley will remain relatively stable (with a slight decrease of 0.4%) and reach 10.294 million hectares. However, grain yields will decline significantly, by 8.9%, which will lead to a 9.3% drop in total production to 43.047 million tons.
Maize is one of the few crops whose acreage is expected to increase by 1.3% to 8.488 million hectares. However, yields will fall by 1.8%, meaning that the total production of this type of grain will amount to 62.381 million tons, which corresponds to a slight decline of 0.5% compared to the previous year.