The two main durum wheat producing powers worldwide, Canada and the EU, will see their respective durum wheat crops significantly cut this season, in the first case by 23% and the second by almost 10%. This important drop in world production should imply, in the opinion of the Agricultural Association Young Farmers, ASAJA, a rebalancing in prices and therefore lead to a rise in prices for European producers of this cereal that drag several campaigns with unattractive prices, which is causing the planting areas to be reduced year after year.
According to sources from the Canadian Ministry of Statistics, durum wheat production will be cut by 1.325 million tons, which is 23% less than in 2018. Thus, a harvest of 4.42 million tons is expected compared to 5.75 million tons from the previous year.
The national vice president of ASAJA and responsible for the sector of cereals of the Organization, Pedro Gallardo, He already anticipated in June that durum wheat surfaces in Canada could be reduced by 19%. Now the Canadian ministry raises this cut to 23%.
In Europe they do not paint the data of the current durum wheat campaign either. COPA-COGECA confirms a 9.5% cut in European production. The weather in durum wheat producing regions (France, Italy, Spain and Greece) has not been benevolent and production will eventually be cut by more than 810,000 tons. Estimates are 7.7 million tons compared to 8.51 million tons last season.
Italy will continue to be the leading European producer with 4.25 million tons, a figure very similar to last season. However, in France, second European producer, production will fall by more than 17% (1.49 million tons are estimated compared to 1.81 in 2018). In Spain, production of 815,000 tons is expected compared to 1,322 million tons in 2018, this is 38% less than production, as ASAJA advanced in its last meeting of the cereal sector held in June. The only positive note is found in Greece, where the harvest is estimated at 811,000 tons compared to 720,000 tons in 2018.
As for the European surfaces, 163,000 hectares less of this crop are estimated. So COPA-COGECA figures at 2,247 million hectares in 2019 compared to 2,411 million hectares in 2018. This represents a reduction of 8.5%. The areas are mainly cut in France where the decrease represents more than 26% (260,000 hectares compared to 354,000 in 2018). The low prices perceived by durum wheat producers are the cause of the sown areas of this cereal are seen, year after year, trimmed.