Featured publications
Book (series)
Crop Prospects and Food Situation Triannual Global Report, No. 1, March 2025
07/03/2025
The triannual Crop Prospects and Food Situation report provides a forward-looking global analysis of cereal production, market trends and food security...
Book (series)
Crop Prospects and Food Situation - Triannual Global Report, No. 3, November 2024
08/11/2024
The triannual Crop Prospects and Food Situation report provides a forward-looking global analysis of cereal production, market trends and food security...
Book (stand-alone)
Crop Prospects and Food Situation - Triannual Global Report, No. 2, July 2024
16/09/2024
The triannual Crop Prospects and Food Situation report provides a forward-looking analysis of the food situation across the globe, focusing on the cereal...
Crop Prospects and Food Situation - Triannual Global Report, No. 1, March 2024
20/03/2024
The triannual Crop Prospects and Food Situation report provides a forward-looking analysis of the food situation across the globe, focusing on the cereal...
Publications
Crop Prospects and Food Situation - Quarterly Global Report, No. 2, June 2017
08/06/2017
FAO estimates that 37 countries are in need of external assistance for food. Civil conflict continues to be a main driver of severe food insecurity, triggering famine in South Sudan and putting populations at high risk of localized famine in Yemen and northern Nigeria. Weather shocks, notably droughts, have also impinged on food availability and access, and have in particular compounded the fragile situation in Somalia where famine conditions continue to be a threat.
Crop Prospects and Food Situation - Quarterly Global Report, No. 1, March 2017
02/03/2017
FAO’s first forecast of global wheat production in 2017 points to an above-average output, but down from the record high of 2016, mostly reflecting expectations of reduced crops in North America. COUNTRIES IN NEED OF EXTERNAL ASSISTANCE: FAO estimates that 37 countries, including 28 in Africa, are in need of external assistance for food. Conflicts and weather-related shocks are the main drivers of food insecurity.
Crop Prospects and Food Situation - Quarterly Global Report, No. 4, December 2016
08/12/2016
The report provides a review of the food situation by geographic region, a section dedicated to the LIFDCs and a list of countries requiring external assistance for food.
Crop Prospects and Food Situation - Quarterly Global Report, No. 3, September 2016
09/09/2016
Prospects for global cereal production in 2016 continued to improve in recent months with significant upward revisions for maize and wheat, reflecting particularly favourable weather conditions in some of the large producing countries.
Crop Prospects and Food Situation - Quarterly Global Report, No. 2, June 2016
02/06/2016
Global cereal production prospects continue to improve although latest forecasts indicate that world cereal output in 2016 would still fall slightly short of the projected demand in 2016/17. COUNTRIES IN NEED OF EXTERNAL ASSISTANCE: FAO estimates that 37 countries, including 28 in Africa, are in need of external assistance for food.
Crop Prospects and Food Situation - Quarterly Global Report, No. 1, March 2016
10/03/2016
FAO’s first forecast for global wheat production in 2016 points to a small decrease, with lower outputs expected in Europe and the United States of America. COUNTRIES IN NEED OF EXTERNAL ASSISTANCE: FAO estimates that, globally, 34 countries, including 27 in Africa, are in need of external assistance for food.
Crop Prospects and Food Situation - Quarterly Global Report, No. 4, December 2015
03/12/2015
FAO’s latest forecasts for global supply and demand of cereals continue to point to a generally comfortable 2015/16 marketing season, with world inventories by the close of seasons in 2016 expected to fall only slightly below their record opening levels. AFRICA: Cereal production in 2015 is forecast to fall, mainly reflecting the impact of adverse weather on Southern Africa’s output and the ongoing harvest in East Africa.
Crop Prospects and Food Situation #3, October 2015
13/10/2015
World cereal supply and demand balance in the 2015/16 marketing season is likely to remain in a generally comfortable situation. While world cereal production is expected to fall below last year’s record, supplies will be almost sufficient to meet the projected demand, requiring only a small reduction in global inventories by the end of the season. AFRICA: Aggregate 2015 cereal production is forecast to decline mostly on account of poor prospects in East Africa and an expected reduced output i n Southern Africa. Average crops are foreseen in West and Central Africa, while a recovery in North Africa’s production averted a sharper regional decline. In East Africa, pockets of starvation have been reported in some conflict-affected areas of South Sudan calling for urgent and concerted efforts to avert a disaster. In addition, food security conditions deteriorated in Southern Africa, while persistent and disruptive conflicts in parts of Central, East and West Africa continue to devastate t he agricultural sector and acutely impact on food security conditions. ASIA: Despite a forecast increase in the 2015 aggregate regional cereal harvest, mainly as result of a record output forecast in China, dry weather diminished production in India and several countries of the Far East subregion. In the Near East, a production recovery is foreseen from last year’s drought-affected output, but conflicts in Iraq, the Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen continue to aggravate the humanitarian crisis. LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN: El Niño-associated dry weather conditions have sharply reduced crop production forecasts in Central America and the Caribbean. On the other hand, record maize harvests are estimated in South America and Mexico, while a bumper wheat output is also forecast in South America. Strong El Niño predicted to persist into early 2016. El Niño-related dry weather patterns have already adversely impacted on production in parts of Asia and Central America and the Caribbe an. The expected prevalence and continuation of El Niño-associated weather patterns into 2016 have raised alarms in many parts of the world where the cropping season has started or is about to start, including parts of Asia and Southern Africa. FAO estimates that, globally, 35 countries, including 28 in Africa, are in need of external assistance for food.
Crop Prospects and Food Situation #2, July 2015
09/07/2015
Prospects for world cereal production in 2015 remain favourable, despite recent adverse weather conditions in some regions and continuing concerns over El Niño, with the global cereal supply and demand outlook for 2015/16 pointing to generally stable conditions. Export prices of wheat and maize generally increased in June on concerns about the impact of unfavourable weather yield potential. By contrast, international prices of rice weakened further mainly because of weak import demand. Cereal pr ices in June remained well below their year-earlier levels, reflecting the continuing overall positive outlook for this year’s production.
Crop Prospects and Food Situation #1, March 2015
05/03/2015
Crop Prospects and Food Situation is published by the Trade and Markets Division of FAO under the Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS). It is published four times a year and focuses on developments affecting the food situation of developing countries and the Low-Income Food-Deficit Countries (LIFDCs) in particular. The report provides a review of the food situation by geographic region, a section dedicated to the LIFDCs and a list of countries requiring external assistance for foo d. It also includes a global cereal supply and demand overview to complement the biannual analysis in the Food Outlook publication. Crop Prospects and Food Situation is available in English, French and Spanish in electronic format.