Latest estimates put the 1998 wheat crop at 24.4 million tonnes, somewhat more than earlier expected and virtually unchanged from the previous year but below the average of the past five years. The reduction was mostly due to smaller plantings. The bulk of the 1999 wheat crop will be sown in May-June. Early indications point to the likelihood of a further reduction in wheat area in 1999 due to poor price prospects. Aggregate output of coarse grains in 1998 is estimated at 26.8 million tonnes, 6 percent up from 1997, and above average.
In the United States, the final official estimate of the 1998 wheat crop is 69.4 million tonnes, 3 percent up from 1997 and above the average of the past five years. The winter wheat area for the 1999 crop is estimated at 17.6 million hectares, the lowest since 1972/73 and down 7 percent from 1998. The reduction is due to low prices last autumn which reduced farmers incentive to plant wheat. While some of the area sown to winter wheat a year earlier is likely to be planted with spring wheat crops, much is expected to be given over to other crops such as feed grains or oilseeds, or left fallow, especially in the drier areas of the Great Plains. Crop conditions are reported to have been generally favourable across the Plains this winter so far. The final estimate of the United States 1998 coarse grains crop is 271.8 million tonnes, 4 percent up from the previous year�s crop and above the average of the past five years. Of the total, maize is estimated to account for about 248 million tonnes. The 1998 paddy crop is estimated at 8.5 million tonnes, the second largest crop on record. Planting of the 1999-rice crop is expected to start in April.
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