Planas lowers cereal production forecasts this year by 12% due to drought

Calls "unacceptable" the theft of grain from Russia to Ukraine

BRUSSELS, 18 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, this Monday lowered the cereal harvest forecast for this year from the initial 20 million tons to a "range of between 17 and 18 million tons", which means in around 12% less than initial forecasts due to the effects of the drought on crop production.

"We had foreseen a harvest of approximately 20 million tons in Spain. We are going to place ourselves in a range of between 17 and 18 million tons", as a result of the drought, Planas indicated before the press upon entering the council of ministers of Agriculture of the EU.

All this taking into account that, in the May forecasts, the Ministry of Agriculture indicated a "good" cereal harvest estimate, between 21 and 13 million tons, above the average of recent years.

The head of Agriculture and Fisheries has lamented that despite the fact that measures have been implemented such as the relaxation of fallow land or the increase in the area of ​​crops, "we are not going to have a greater production as a consequence of the high temperatures, particularly in the months of May and June", in cereal and oilseed crops.

In any case, Planas has indicated that the supply of feed production in Spain is "absolutely assured" since the supply has been diversified. "We are buying mainly from the United States, Canada and Brazil, so we don't have a supply problem."

As part of this market point that the EU Agriculture Ministers will address, Planas has advanced that he will request that fallow land and crop rotation be requested "in order to ensure production this campaign."

In a further step, Planas recalled that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (better known as FAO) indicates that the prices of food products have stabilized, although the figures are between 40% and 60% of the figures from a year ago. "We have a price problem within the Union," he acknowledged.

In one more step, Planas has described as "unacceptable" the theft, by Russian and Syrian freighters, of grain from Ukraine, taking it out of the country from Crimea. "It seems to us absolutely unacceptable from all points of view," he pointed out.

The Minister of Agriculture explained that the EU is trying to "response to this situation", something that the EU Foreign Ministers will address in the Council that is being held in parallel.

Planas stressed that the Russian military aggression against Ukraine is using "food as an element of disruption" in many countries and stressed that it does not only affect the community market.

"There is no problem in the EU, but there are countries that are in a difficult situation such as Egypt, Tunisia, Senegal or countries in sub-Saharan Africa," the Minister of Agriculture indicated.