CHICAGO—The world is heading toward the tightest grain inventories in years despite the resumption of exports from Ukraine, as the shipments are too few and harvests from other major crop producers are smaller than initially expected, according to grain supply and crop forecast data.
Poor weather in key agricultural regions from the United States to France and China is shrinking grain harvests and cutting inventories, heightening the risk of famine in some of the world’s poorest nations.
Importers, food manufacturers, and livestock producers had hoped crop availability would improve after war-torn Ukraine resumed shipments from Black Sea ports this summer and U.S. farmers planted large crops. But the United States, the world’s top corn producer, is now expected to harvest its smallest corn crop in three years. Drought also punished European harvests and is threatening South America’s upcoming planting season….