Australian wheat lands face planting rains

Winter crop lands in Australia's east and southwest will receive useful planting rains in coming days, according to weather forecasts issued Tuesday (May 18).

Agribusiness AWB Ltd.forecast rainfall in eastern Australia from Wednesday, and from Thursday in southwest Australia, where there has been some concern about the dry weather through summer and autumn.

Showers will spread over much of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria Wednesday and Thursday, while in Western Australia a strong front will spread showers over the southwest Thursday through Saturday, AWB forecast.

The South Australia state largely misses the forecast rainfall.

Wheat production this crop year will rise to 22.1 million metric tonnes this crop year from an actual 21.4 million tonnes in the last crop year ended March 31, according to a forecast issued in March by the government's chief commodities forecaster, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, which is scheduled to update its projections for wheat and other winter crops June 16.

Australia is usually a major global supplier of traded wheat - depending on production levels - after an annual domestic demand of 6-7 million tonnes is met.