Closely watched crop forecaster Informa Economics Inc. on Wednesday projected U.S. winter wheat output of 1.631 billion bushels this year, down 1% or 14 million bushels from last year, traders said.

Informa forecast hard red winter wheat output of 903 millions bushels, down 101 million bushels on the year, and soft red winter wheat production of 506 million bushels, up 86 million bushels on the year, traders said.

Informa also raised its outlook for corn production in Brazil and Argentina. Informa raised its projection for Brazil's corn output 350,000 metric tons to 71.95 million tons, and its projection for Argentina's corn output 300,000 tons to 25.3 million tons, traders said.

Informa cut its forecast for Brazil's soybean output 1.25 million tons to 83.25 million tons, but raised its forecast for Argentina's soy output 1 million tons to 52 million tons, traders said.

The USDA on April 10 will update its crop production and demand estimates for the U.S. and the world.

Write to Owen Fletcher at owen.fletcher@dowjones.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 03, 2013 12:07 ET (16:07 GMT)
DJ Informa Sees U.S. Winter Wheat Output 1.631 Billion Bushels, Down 1%->copyright