EU to increase corn production in 2025

Grain production in the European Union/United Kingdom remains on pace to exceed last year’s crop, but COCERAL has trimmed its overall outlook on lower plantings in a pair of key wheat producing countries in its second forecast for the 2025 crop.

COCERAL, the European association that focuses on agricultural trade, sees the total grain output in the EU-27+UK at 296.1 million tonnes. This would be up from the 278.2 million tonnes harvested in 2024 but down slightly from the 297.8 million tonnes projected in December.

Wheat production (excluding durum) is expected to increase from 125.1 million to 137.2 million tonnes year on year, however, the crop forecast is lower than the 140.4 million tonnes predicted in December.

“Overall, a higher area and a return to normal yields in Western Europe should lead to a better crop than last year, but lower than initially expected plantings in France and the UK have started to weigh on the production outlook,” COCERAL said in its March 11 report.

Barley production is forecast to grow from 57.8 million to 58.8 million tonnes in 2025, but this is down from the 59.7 million tonnes projected in December.

For 2025, corn is seen increasing year on year to 63.3 million tonnes, up from 58.9 million. This is higher than the previous forecast of 61.9 million tonnes as production will be much higher in the Balkan countries but slightly lower in Germany and France.

The rapeseed crop is expected to recover from 18 million tonnes last year to 20 million tonnes in 2025, mainly because of a return to a normal planting pattern in Romania and Bulgaria and a recovery in yields in France and Germany. The forecast is down marginally from the 20.3 million tonnes expected in December.

Tags: EU, wheat, rapeseed, crop forecast, corn, barley