World Grain Supplies Expected to Shrink Further

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This is Doug Johnson from the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
The Food and Agriculture Organization it expects another decrease in world grain supplies. The F.A.O. says it expects the to be eighteen percent lower at the end of the season than their opening last year.
However, world grain production this year is expected to increase by two . That would be three percent above the average of the last five years.
But production of some crops will affect prices. The F.A.O. says it expects trade in this year to remain slow mainly because of rising prices.
The F.A.O. is part the United Nations. The agency released a World Food Outlook this month. The report information on wheat, rice and coarse grains . These include barley (大麦), corn and (粟).
Wheat supplies have fallen in recent years. China, and recently India, have reduced crops. This is partly because the world is using less wheat. Wheat prices began increase in July of two-thousand-three. The recent cuts mean prices will continue to rise.
of the coarse grain crops in the world have not yet been planted. But F.A.O. says it expects production to decrease by one percent from last year. Corn have increased over the last few months.
The world rice crop is expected to , but not enough to satisfy demand. Already, prices for most kinds of rice have since March.
Uses of grain crops change with time. Today, farmers use one-third of grains to feed animals. People eat less grain as their economies develop and their increase. Instead, they eat more vegetable oils and animal products. This is the case China.
At the same time, industrial uses can increase demand for cereal grains. This the case with corn. This year, almost half of the corn not used for in the United States will go to make alcohol for fuel.
Grain supplies are good measure of how the world is producing and using food. Grains are a part of the human diet. They provide protein, fat and starch (淀粉).
Coarse grains a major food for about one-thousand-million people in Africa and Central and South America. is the main food for about one-third of all people. But rice is the popular cereal grain in the world. It is eaten by about seventy percent of population.
This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by Mario Ritter.