World grain balance Heading for shortages

摘要

Total 2005 production of wheat, coarse grains, and rice is put at 1.96 billion tonnes, down 72 million from last year's record. The previous record was 1.88 billion tonnes in 1997. In the intervening eight years world grain consumption has increased by almost 10 percent and production will fall short of consumption this year for the fifth time in the last six years.