April 17, 2008

Glencore to lease, crop Australian wheat lands

Switzerland's commodities trading concern Glencore International AG plans to lease 40,000 hectares of wheat land in southeast Australia for five years to grow crops.

Glencore plans to store, transport and market the wheat produced itself, according to a source.

A number of other corporate farming enterprises are looking to enter the grains business, the report said.

Under new export arrangements starting July 1, the federal government plans to accredit multiple wheat exporters, ending a protected system that saw AWB Ltd. (AWB.AU) or its predecessor, the Australian Wheat Board, either operate an export monopoly or in recent years dominate exports.

At stake is a share in an annual export trade that has in the past reached nearly AUD5 billion (US$4.7 billion) in value and almost 18 million tonnes of wheat, or more than 15 percent of the annual world wheat trade.