January 21, 2010

AWB reports strong wheat sales to Asia and Middle East

Australian agribusiness AWB Ltd. reported strong sales of wheat to key international customers, mainly in Asia and the Middle East.

AWB General Manager Commodities Mitch Morison did not provide further details of the collectives sales and marketing programme for wheat from the 2009-10 crop, harvesting of which was mostly completed by the end of December.

He was commenting while announcing a total A$47 million (US$43.1 million) top up payment on January 27 to growers who utilised AWB's harvest finance for wheat delivered for marketing through AWB's collective pooled sales.

Having a solid domestic and international customer base is critical in an environment where global wheat supplies are abundant as these customers rely on AWB to deliver quality Australian wheat on a regular basis, he said.

In the period through to the end of February from January 20, AWB has a total of 474,500 tonnes of wheat scheduled for loading at export terminals around Australia.