ROME: The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) trimmed its forecast for global cereal production in 2024, now pegging it at 2 851 million tonnes, almost on par with that of 2023.
The new Cereal Supply and Demand Brief attributed its revisions to reduced harvest expectations for coarse grains, including maize, primarily due to hot and dry weather conditions in the European Union, Mexico and Ukraine. Meanwhile, FAO has raised its forecast for global wheat output in 2024 as well as that for rice, which is now projected to reach an all-time high of 537 million tonnes.
World cereal total utilization in 2024/25 is forecast to rise to 2 852 million tonnes, marking a 0.2 percent rise from 2023/24. Utilization of rice is predicted to reach a record high, driven by an expected accelerated growth in the food intake component.
World cereal stocks are forecast to expand by 1.2 percent at the end of the 2025 seasons, yielding a global cereal stocks-to-use ratio in 2024/25 at 30.7 percent.
Inter
national trade in total cereals is now pegged at 485.6 million tonnes, representing a 3.3 percent decline from 2023/24, led mostly by lower traded volumes in coarse grains.
Source: Emirates News Agency