WORLD grain production has been slashed in the latest International Grains Council (IGC) report.
In its May report the IGC cut a whopping 24 million tonnes from its previous report for the 2022-23 crop.
However, even with the cut to production still remains at high levels based on historical figures.
Total grain production is flagged at 2,251 million tonnes, with smaller wheat, corn and sorghum harvests mean the figure has been cut back hard, with wheat and corn suffering the largest cuts.
This compares to the 2021-22 crop which is forecast to be 2,291m tonnes.
High grain prices are seeing a rationing of demand, with the IGC reporting falls in total consumption nearly matching total production falls, meaning total carryover will only drop by a million tonnes.
The fall in consumption is significant, marking the first time since 2015-16 that there has been a net year on year drop in usage.
In the short-term one of the largest falls in production will come in the soybean sector where total tonnage will drop by 5 per cent year on year in 2021-22 to 349 million tonnes, although a big rebound is expected in 2022-23, with a record 387 m tonnes crop forecast.
On the wheat front, the IGC is predicting a 769 million crop for 22-23, which is down from 780m tonnes for the 2021-22 year and the lowest since 2019-20.
Along with the Ukraine conflict dropping tonnes off what would normally be an ideal crop given the seasonal weather there has been a big dry through wheat growing regions in the west of the US.
Recently analysts have also expressed concern at the excessive wet conditions in the Canadian prairies, while at the other end of the extreme weather scale France's wheat crop has been rocked by extreme late spring heat with crops at a delicate growth stage.
Bloomberg has reported that the May heatwave has exceeded France's previous hottest May weather, set over a decade ago in 2011.