Record global corn and wheat crops on the way

Corn production was projected at 1.17 billion tonnes, with the prospect of larger crops in the United States.

World grain production will reach an all-time high of 2.23 billion tonnes, with record-setting wheat and corn harvests, said the International Grains Council on Thursday. The global inventory of all grains will rise for the first time in four years, buoyed by larger wheat, maize, and rye carryover stocks at the end of the 2020/21 marketing year.

“Given prospects for a much larger U.S. crop, 2020/21 global [soybean] production is predicted to rise by 8%, year-on-year, to 363 million tonnes,” said the IGC in its monthly Grain Market Report. “While consumption is likely to climb to a new peak, carryovers are seen a fraction higher year-on-year, at 42 million tonnes.”

Corn production was projected at 1.17 billion tonnes, with the prospect of larger crops in the United States, at 392.5 million tonnes, and China, at 261 million tonnes, said the IGC. Earlier this month, the USDA projected the U.S. corn crop at a record 16 billion bushels, or 406 million tonnes, and China’s crop at 206 million tonnes.

Global wheat production would total 766 million tonnes in 2020/21, eclipsing the mark of 762 million tonnes set in 2019/20, said the IGC.

All-grain consumption “is seen reaching a new peak, with larger food and feed usage as well as a recovery in industrial demand,” said the IGC. Corn carryovers would decline for the fourth straight year, but increases in wheat and other grains would outweigh the marginal change in corn stocks.