August 29, 2008

West Australian wheat crop likely to be up 60 percent

Wheat production from West Australia, a crucial state in the world wheat market is expected to be up 60 percent this year to 9 million tonnes, an analyst said Friday (August 29, 2008).

The figure was provided by Shane Sander, a risk management adviser, from grain marketing company AGvise Pty Ltd. The company is located in the heartland of the state's wheatbelt, 260 kilometres east of Perth.

However, even with higher planting this year, crop conditions are mixed after a relatively dry August and many areas will require spring rains to ensure crops reach their potential.

Sander comments come after rains fell across many areas of the state's wheat belt in the past two days.

In many early planted northern crops recent rains could be enough to take crops through to harvest, which usually starts in the north in late September and early October before finishing near the south coast around the end of the year.

The government's Bureau of Meteorology is making a moderate to strong shift in the odds favoring above average rainfall across wheat lands in Western Australia September through November.

The state, with minimal domestic consumption, had a record production of 11 million tonnes in 2003, which at that time was 10 percent of the world's traded wheat.