Browse Data and Analysis

After hitting bottom during the previous season, Spain’s fodder production and exports are set to recover in MY 2024/25. A combination of higher area and yields are projected to bring fodder production to average levels.

Following three consecutive seasons of tight supply, favorable fall and winter conditions have been followed by abundant spring precipitation across Spain, with the notable exception of the eastern part of the country.

Favorable winter growing conditions set Tunisia up for an above average 2024 harvest. The wheat and barley crops have developed well entering the most critical growing period in April.

For MY 2023/24, lower area and poor yields are expected to push production levels well below the previous year’s levels.

Several Spain grain supply chain actors have released their first estimates for grain production for MY 2023/24 and concur with the poor crop prospects.

Spain is facing a second consecutive year of poor grains crops. While northernmost grain producing areas still hold production potential, yields in the country’s southeast are estimated to have declined significantly.

Wheat and barley production is expected to decline due to heat stress and insufficient rainfall. Post forecasts MY 2023/24 wheat and barley production at 800,000 MT and 220,000 MT, respectively, with imports at 2.2 MMT and 900,000 MT.

Competition by other crops continues to force Spain’s fodder area down. In MY 2022/23 the dry spring is anticipated to have negatively affected yields in non-irrigated land. On the processor side, energy prices will keep forcing margins down.

For MY2022/23, initially good crop prospects after the abundant rains in April were negated by above average temperatures registered in May and June. In-country grain demand remains relatively stable, driven by the recovery of the tourism sector, despite the somewhat lower livestock products exports and the grain prices hike.

In 2021, Chinese imports of alfalfa pellets hit record levels of 52,254 metric tons (MT) and $13.66 million by value, increases of 62 percent and 70 percent respectively. The market is dominated by Spanish-origin pellets.

Wheat and barley crops received adequate rainfall. Post forecasts MY 2022/23 wheat and barley production at 1.1 MMT and 420,000 MT, respectively, with imports anticipated at 2.1 MMT and 950,000 MT.

Favorable weather conditions have allowed a second consecutive sizeable winter grains crop in Spain.