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U.S. Winter-Wheat Crop May Drop 2.8%, Informa Says
07.06.2010 14:31 "Agro Perspectiva" (Kyiv) —
U.S. winter-wheat production probably will fall 2.8 percent this year, a smaller drop than the government forecast last month, according to Informa Economics Inc.
The crop will total 1.481 billion bushels, compared with 1.523 billion last year, Memphis, Tennessee-based Informa said today in a report to clients. Last month, the private forecaster predicted output of 1.466 billion bushels and the U. S. Department of Agriculture projected 1.458 billion.
The harvest of hard-red winter wheat, used to make bread and grown in the southern Great Plains, will rise 7.1 percent to 984 million bushels, from 919 million last year, Informa said. That’s up from last month’s forecasts of 964 million by the company and 960 million by the USDA.
Production of soft-red winter wheat, used in cakes and confectionary foods, will fall 30 percent to 283 million bushels from 404 million last year, Informa said. The company forecast 295 million in May. Farmers will harvest 214 million bushels of soft-white wheat, compared with 200 million last year, the company said.
Wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade today fell to the lowest price since April 2007. The USDA predicts world reserves will rise to the highest in nine years before the start of the Northern Hemisphere harvests in 2011.
The department will release its second production forecast for this year’s crop on June 10 in Washington. Winter wheat is the most common variety of the grain in the U.S., accounting for 69 percent of last year’s harvest. Wheat is the fourth-largest U.S. crop, with a 2009 value of $10.6 billion, behind corn, soybeans and hay, government figures show.
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