Latest indications continue to point to a reduction in cereal output in 1999 and to a slight deterioration in the cereal supply outlook for the forthcoming 1999/2000 marketing season. If current forecasts materialize, cereal output in 1999 would not be sufficient to meet expected consumption requirements in 1999/2000 and global cereal reserves accumulated in the last three seasons will have to be drawn down. A major humanitarian emergency persists in Europe,...

Early forecasts point to a reduced 1999 global cereal output. Although above the average of the past five years, it would not be sufficient to meet expected consumption requirements in 1999/2000 and global cereal reserves will have to be drawn down. A major humanitarian emergency has unfolded in Europe where the unprecedented exodus of refugees from the Kosovo Province of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia calls for continued international assistance...

The outlook for cereal supplies in 1998/99 has improved slightly, following upward revisions for the 1998 wheat and coarse grains harvests. Global cereal production in 1998 is now estimated at 1 880 million tonnes, just below the anticipated consumption requirements in 1998/99. Global stocks would have to be drawn upon, but very slightly, and would remain within the minimum safe range for world food security. Serious food emergencies afflict several...