"WINNIPEG, Manitoba | Fri Jan 14, 2011 2:30pm EST
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - The world's farmers will grow only slightly more wheat in 2011, the Canadian Wheat Board said on Friday, even as food inflation spurred protests this month and pumped up grain values.
In its first market outlook of 2011, the Wheat Board said that despite attractive prices, global wheat production will be reined in by ongoing concerns about drought in Russia and potential flooding in Canada, as well as high prices of competing crops ahead of planting season in the Northern Hemisphere.
"In terms of food inflation, at the current projection there isn't going to be a huge issue," said Bruce Burnett, the Wheat Board's director of weather and market analysis, in an interview from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. "But if we were to see a couple of weather events happen that move that (production) number lower toward last year or even lower, especially in a major exporting region, then certainly there would be more concerns."
The world will produce 649.5 million tonnes of all types of wheat, up 0.6 percent from the 2010 crop, he said. Canada will harvest 23.8 million tonnes of wheat, the CWB said, up 2.9 percent from last year.
(Reporting by Rod Nickel; editing by Jim Marshall)"
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - The world's farmers will grow only slightly more wheat in 2011, the Canadian Wheat Board said on Friday, even as food inflation spurred protests this month and pumped up grain values.
In its first market outlook of 2011, the Wheat Board said that despite attractive prices, global wheat production will be reined in by ongoing concerns about drought in Russia and potential flooding in Canada, as well as high prices of competing crops ahead of planting season in the Northern Hemisphere.
"In terms of food inflation, at the current projection there isn't going to be a huge issue," said Bruce Burnett, the Wheat Board's director of weather and market analysis, in an interview from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. "But if we were to see a couple of weather events happen that move that (production) number lower toward last year or even lower, especially in a major exporting region, then certainly there would be more concerns."
The world will produce 649.5 million tonnes of all types of wheat, up 0.6 percent from the 2010 crop, he said. Canada will harvest 23.8 million tonnes of wheat, the CWB said, up 2.9 percent from last year.
(Reporting by Rod Nickel; editing by Jim Marshall)"
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