"Extreme drought" has prompted a 2.4m-tonne cut to US forecasts for the barley harvest in Spain, where livestock feed companies are warning of a 30% drop in total grain output.

Hopes for barley crops in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary and Latvia have also been trimmed, the US Department of Agriculture said in a follow-up note to Wednesday's influential crop supply and demand report.

The department, which has dropped its estimate for European Union barley production this year by 3.2m tonnes to 61.0m tonnes, said the revisions reflected dry spells as crops "went through critical growth stages" in April and May.

But Spanish barley had been particularly hurt by "extreme drought in key winter grain regions".

Imports to soar

The briefing came as Cesfac, the Spanish feed companies' organization, warned that the country may need to raise grain imports by 50% to make up for the poor domestic harvest, according to a report.

A Cesfac report pegged Spain's grain harvest at 16.3m tonnes this season, down from 23.2m tonnes last year, Reuters, the news agency, said.

With demand steady at 30.3m tonnes, Spain's imports were set to rise from 9.88m tonnes in 2008-09 to 14m-15m tonnes this year.

Spain has a long history of importing grain because of a dearth of fertile land in areas climatically suitable for cereal crops.