REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS AFRICA Floods and earlier severe dryness in East Africa cut harvest expectations for the 2019 cereal crops, while similarly adverse weather conditions caused a steep production decline in Southern Africa, where planting of the 2020 crops is underway. Average outputs are estimated in North Africa and Central Africa.
ASIA Improved security contributed to a production increase in the Syrian Arab Republic in 2019, while conducive weather supported harvest upturns across the Near East.
A record?high wheat output in India helped maintain an above?average subregional cereal output in the Far East. In CIS Asia, a reduced harvest in Kazakhstan was offset by production upturns elsewhere.
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN Record cereal harvests estimated in South America in 2019, due to bumper outputs in Argentina and Brazil. In Central America and the Caribbean, unfavourable weather reduced harvests in most countries of the subregion.