EUROPE: Winter grain area in the EC is likely to decline from last year due to somewhat unfavourable weather last autumn. Persistent drought and high temperatures in central and eastern Europe, particularly in Hungary and the Balkan Peninsula in the south, will negatively affect the 2001 cereal harvests. In the Russian Federation, displaced people in Chechnya and surrounding republics continue to need food assistance. In the Baltic countries, the early outlook for 2001 winter cereals is satisfactory.