United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has curtailed its forecast for global wheat output in 2018-19 by 3.4 MMT to 746.6 MMT. The output estimate is nearly 1.5% lower than 2017-18’s record crop. This year’s shortfall is largely driven by a nearly 9-mln-tn decline in output in Russia. Wheat production in the European Union and India are also seen falling, but for Australia and the US it is expected to rise. In 2018-19, global wheat utilization is set to increase to 743.3 mln tn from 737.7 mln tn because feed usage of wheat is declining due to cheaper availability of coarse grains.