EU farmers co-op group Copa-Cogeca has released its final EU-27 cereals estimates for the 2013/14 marketing year, showing EU grain production is back to a good level reaching 298 million tonnes.
Speaking at Copa-Cogeca cereals working party, group chairman Max Schulman, from Finland, said the figures showed that EU-27 grain production was up 9.5% on last year’s levels and the quality was good; especially good protein content and low mycotoxin levels.
Soft wheat production is expected to climb by 8.6% to 134 million tonnes this year, barley production by 7.9% and maize production by 13.2%. But there’s still a lot of uncertainty on the maize harvest due to changes in varieties which were used because of the late and very cool Spring season.
A lot of grain is also still on the farm due to the late harvest and transport will be tight. Farmers consequently need all tools available at their disposal in order to compete on world markets.Â