Global Wheat Supplies Will Slide by End of June on Drought, Council Says (Russia)

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-29/global-wheat-supplies-will-slide-by-end-of-june-on-drought-council-says.html

World wheat stockpiles will decline by the end of June as drought damages crops in Russia and Kazakhstan, the International Grains Council said, slashing an outlook for higher inventories.

Stocks will drop to 192 million metric tons at the end of the 2010-11 crop year from 197 million tons at last month’s close, the London-based council said in a monthly report today. The group cut its outlook for this year’s wheat harvest.

Russia may harvest 45 million tons of wheat this year, the Russian Grain Union said this week, down from 62 million tons last year. The drought in the country has damaged 10.1 million hectares (25 million acres), or 32 percent of all planted areas, Agriculture Minister Yelena Skrynnik said July 23.

“A prolonged period of dry weather and high temperatures significantly reduced yield prospects in Russia, Kazakhstan, parts of Ukraine and northwestern areas of the EU,” the council said, referring to the European Union.

<more>