The International Grains Council (IGC) in its January report raised the forecast for global grain harvest in the 2025/26 season (July-June) by 31 million tons, to a record 2,461 million tons.
This is primarily explained by improved forecasts for corn production mainly in the USA and China, and barley in Canada and Australia.
In the 2024/25 season, the harvest amounted to 2 billion 238 million tons.
"Thanks to the increase in yield (by 5%) and an expansion of planted areas (by 1%), grain production in the 2025/26 season will break all existing records. In addition to record corn and wheat harvests, barley and sorghum production is also expected to reach multi-year highs," the report states.
The grain consumption estimate has been raised by 16 million tons, to 2,416 million tons. Ending stocks at the end of the season are projected at 634 million tons, which is nearly 16 million tons above the previous estimate.
The wheat harvest forecast has increased to 842 million tons, which is 12 million tons more than the previous estimate. In the 2024/25 season, it amounted to 801 million tons.
The corn harvest forecast for the 2025/26 season has been raised to 1,313 million tons from the previous 1,298 million tons. Last season, 1 billion 238 million tons were harvested.
The estimate for global rice production has remained virtually unchanged at 543 million tons.
