The International Grains Council on Sept. 23 projected world durum production in 2010-11 at 35 million tonnes, down from 35.3 million tonnes as the I.G.C.’s August forecast and down 5.9 million tonnes, or 14%, from a record 40.9 million tonnes in the previous year. Despite the problems encountered by U.S. and especially Canadian farmers in completing their harvests, the I.G.C. left unchanged its production forecasts for those nations at 3 million tonnes each. In the case of the United States, production this year would be about the same as last year, which also was estimated at 3 million tonnes. The 2010 Canadian crop would be much smaller than that harvested last year, when Canadian producers harvested 5.4 million tonnes of durum. The I.G.C. left unchanged its production forecasts for other major producers, including France at 2.5 million tonnes (up 0.4 million tonnes from 2009), Italy at 3.9 million tonnes (up 0.1 million tonnes from a year ago), Mexico at 2.2 million tonnes (the same as in 2009), Syria at 1.6 million tonnes (down 0.2 million tonnes from 2009), Turkey at 2.9 million tonnes (down 0.2 million tonnes frorm 2009), Algeria at 2.4 million tonnes (down 0.4 million tonnes from last year), and Morocco at 1.4 million tonnes (down 0.5 million tonnes from 2009).

The I.G.C. lowered its production forecasts for three nations. Spanish durum production was estimated at 0.8 million tonnes, down from 0.9 million tonnes as the August forecast and down 0.6 million tonnes from 2009. Kazakhstan’s durum crop was estimated at 1.9 million tonnes, down 0.2 million tonnes from the August forecast and down 0.7 million tonnes from last year. The Tunisian durum crop was estimated at 0.8 million tonnes, down 0.2 million tonnes from the August forecast and down 0.6 million tonnes from last year.