February 20, 2008

Australia's grain production rise 30 percent on-year, below five-year average

Australia released Friday the Australian Crop report which forecasts total winter grains to be around 22.6 million tonnes in 2007-08, up 30 percent on-year, but below the 5-year average of 35 million tonnes.

Philip Glyde, executive director of the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE), said that of the major winter grains, wheat production was estimated at a13 million tonnes and rapeseed just over 1 million tonnes.

Australia's grain sorghum crop was forecast to increase by 80 percent to a record 2.5 million tonnes in 2007-08.

ABARE said these estimates reflect average to abundant rainfall since October 2007 throughout parts of Queensland and northern New South Wales, Australia.

Glyde pointed that total summer crop production of Australia is forecast to reach more than 3 million tonnes, a sharp drop from the previous record of 5.3 million tonnes in 2000-01.

However, the 2007-08 winter cropping season is better than the previous year's drought-affected harvest. Yet the figures are still well below the average.