Winter Durum Seen at 17.7 Million Bushels

WASHINGTON - May 10/02 - STAT -- The USDA believe durum wheat production in California and Arizona will total 17.7 million bushels, up 8% from their 2001 total of 16.4 million.

Durum wheat in Arizona, where weather conditions have had little impact on the Durum crop since March, is currently 97% headed and 20% mature.

Crop condition is mainly good to excellent in California. Crop development was somewhat behind normal in the Imperial and San Joaquin valleys due to cool temperatures in February and March, but has recovered with warmer temperatures.

Most of the winter wheat grown in the United States is spring seeded. In the March seeding intentions report, growers said they planned to seed 2.84 million acres, down 2% from 2001. By contrast, Canadian wheat producers said they plan to boost spring seeded durum area 7.3% to 5.945 million acres for a net increase in North American area.

          Durum Wheat:  Area Harvested, Yield, and Production by State
           and United States, 2000-2001 and Forecasted May 1, 2002 1/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
       :   Area Harvested    :      Yield      :           Production
 State :------------------------------------------------------------------------
       :   2001   :   2002   :  2001  :  2002  :   2000   :   2001   :   2002
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
       :    1,000 Acres        --- Bushels --    ------- 1,000 Bushels ------
       :
AZ     :     87        90       91.0     97.0      8,075      7,917     8,730
CA     :     81        90      105.0    100.0      9,700      8,505     9,000
MT     :    495                 24.0              13,160     11,880
ND     :  2,100                 26.0              78,300     54,600
       :
Oth    :
 Sts 2/:     26                 25.2                 570        654
       :
US     :  2,789                 30.0             109,805     83,556
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1/  Area harvested for the U.S. and remaining States will be published in
    "Acreage" released June 28, 2002. Yield and production will be published in
    "Crop Production" released July 11, 2002.
2/  Other States include MN and SD. Individual State level estimates will
    be published in the "Small Grains 2002 Summary."