The figure is above the European Commission’s forecasts at 145.6mt. The Commission estimated total cereals production would reach record high of 317mt, compared with Coceral's total figure of 320mt, which includes a 72mt maize crop.
Coceral’s soft wheat forecast is based on the expectation of significantly increased output in a number of leading producers within the bloc.
The UK should see the largest year-on-year rise with its harvest of 16.4mt around 4.5mt higher than the 11.9mt produced in 2013. The estimate is slightly lower than the 16.6mt predicted by the member state’s farm ministry last week, which would represent the biggest crop since 2008 when a record 17.2mt was harvested.
The EU’s leading producer France should see a 37.6mt soft wheat harvest, up from 36.8mt in 2013, with German output up 3mt to 27.8mt.
Scandinavian countries Denmark and Sweden should see harvests reaching 4.9mt and 3.0mt respectively, up by around 900 000t and 1.2mt from 2013. Poland (11.4mt) and Romania (8.2mt) will also see production jumps of 1.9mt and 300 000t.
Durum wheat production is estimated to be down to 7.3mt from around 8.2mt last year. Barley output is also expected to fall year-on-year with 58.9mt crop predicted, down by around 400 000t.