Thanks to a generally favorable growing season, wheat growers in the European Union reaped a record 160 million tonnes of the grain in 2015, part of a record-setting harvest worldwide. As a result, the global inventory would be record large when this year’s crop is ready for harvest, expected to begin in a few weeks in the northern hemisphere, according to the USDA’s monthly WASDE report. For the third year in a row, the EU will be the world’s largest exporter, a post formerly held by the United States.
U.S. exports are forecast for a comparatively paltry 21 million tonnes, or 775 million bushels, possibly the lowest figure on record. It would be 13 percent of the world wheat export market, compared to the EU’s 20 percent market share with exports of 32 million tonnes. Russia would be the second-largest exporter and Canada the third-largest this year. The strong dollar and back-to-back bumper harvests worldwide are throttling U.S. exports.
Although the global wheat crop was huge, drought-hit Ethiopia faces a 13-percent drop in its crop, to 3.3 million tonnes. “Ethiopia is the largest wheat producer in sub-Saharan Africa, with most of the wheat being rain-fed and grown on small farms in the highlands,” says the monthly World Agricultural Production report. “Wheat yield is down due to untimely and insufficient rainfall in the highland wheat-growing areas.” Ethiopia’s sorghum crop is in worse shape, down 35 percent, to 2.6 million tonnes, from the 2014/15 record. “Sorghum yield is down due to drought in the lowland sorghum growing areas, especially in the east,” says the USDA. Sorghum generally is grown on small farms in the eastern and northwestern sections of the country.