The final official estimate aggregate 1996 wheat crop is 30.5 million tons, about 22 percent up from the previous year and about 10 percent above the average of the past five years. The increase is reported to result mainly from the 14 percent expansion in plantings but also higher yields were achieved in 1996. Coarse grain production is also estimated to have increased, by about 18 percent, from the previous year to some 28.7 million tons. Although a small area of winter durum wheat (about 2 million hectares) is already in the ground, the bulk of the wheat and coarse grain crops for the 1997 harvest will not be sown until May-June. Early indications point to a slight reduction in wheat and coarse grain plantings with a rotation of some land back to oilseed production
The final official estimate of the 1996 wheat crop is 62.1 million tons, about 5 percent up from the harvest in 1995. The early outlook for the 1996 winter wheat crop, which accounts for about 75 percent of the country's total wheat output, is generally satisfactory but plantings have reduced. The bulk of the winter crop was already in the ground by early December and the first official estimate of the area sown to winter wheat is 19.5 million hectares, 7 percent less than the area sown in the previous year, and the smallest area since 1978. The lateness of the row crop harvest and excessive soil moisture problems in the Plains and major soft red wheat growing states hampered field operations during the planting period. However, although the winter wheat area has decreased from the previous year, as of early January, most of the crop was reported to be in good to excellent condition despite some concerns about lack of snow cover and dryness in the hard red winter wheat belt. This compares favourably with the previous year when crops suffered from particularly harsh winter weather conditions. The final estimate of the 1996 coarse grain crop is 267.8 million tons, about 58 million tons above last year's reduced crop. Of the total, maize is estimated to account for 236 million tons.