Reuters says the council’s prediction is 1.197 billion tons because of smaller crops in Ukraine and the United States. The first full assessment forecasts Ukraine’s corn crop to drop from 41.9 million tons last season to 18.6 billion. The IGC says the Black Sea region’s conflict makes its current forecast “especially tentative.”
The United States, the world’s leading corn producer, will harvest 376.6 million tons, down from last year’s 383.9 million. The council also forecasts a decline of one million tons in global wheat production.
The 2022-2023 total will be 780 million tons, due in large part to a smaller crop in Ukraine, which will be 19.4 million tons compared to 33 million last year. The drop will be mostly offset by larger crops in other countries, including Canada.