Brussels, 02/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - According to Copa-Cogeca forecasts published on Friday 30 March, EU cereal production is expected to rise to 287.33 million tonnes in the 2012/2013 marketing year, a 0.5% increase compared to 2011/2012. Forecasts also indicate that oilseed production in the EU27 in the 2012/2013 marketing year is expected to experience a slight fall (-3.3 % to 28.122 million tonnes) compared to last year. Nonetheless, given the current bad weather conditions, these figures are still subject to significant uncertainty, underline the two EU agricultural organisations.
At the same time, prospects on the world market show production is decreasing “reinforcing the need for the EU to maintain its production capacity”. Copa-Cogeca is forecasting that wheat production in 2012/2013 will be 137.19 million tonnes, which represents a fall of 0.2%. A 4.4% rise is expected for barley (53.9 million tonnes) and a fall for maize (-1.8% to 65.1 millions tonnes). (LC/transl.fl)