The world wheat harvest will fall by more than had been thought this year, thanks to the damage caused by dryness and winter freezes to the European Union crop, grains experts warned.

The International Grains Council cut by 5m tonnes, to 676m tonnes, its forecast for the global wheat harvest in 2012-13.

The downgrade, which left the output forecast 19m tonnes short of last year's result, reflected the setbacks to the EU harvest, the world's biggest, from a cold snap in February and dryness which, while easing in the west of the continent, has been identified as a growing threat to crops in the east.

"The EU crop forecast is reduced sharply due to reports of worse than expected winter damage and recent dry conditions," the intergovernmental group said.