European Union stuck by a, lowball, forecast for the bloc’s wheat exports this season, despite raising its production forecast, amid growing ideas of competition from Russia’s record harvest. The European Commission raised by 800,000 tonnes to 139.4m tonnes its forecast for soft wheat production in the EU, the top grower of the grain, taking it more than 5m tonnes above last year’s result, which was undermined by late rains. The upgrade reflected an improvement of 0.1 tonnes per hectare, to 5.9 tonnes per hectare, in the yield estimate, offset in part by a decline in the area figure. While the commission did not expand on the reasons behind its revisions, the yield upgrade tallies with market ideas of surprisingly strong results for France, where crops were this year tested by summer heat.