September 13, 2010

USDA blames Australian marketing system on new wheat forecast

The USDA has cut its Australian wheat forecast just one month after raising it on Russia's export and blames Australia's wheat marketing reforms for the reduction.

USDA World Ag Outlook Board chair Gerald Bange says the board's latest supply and demand report forecasts Australian 2010-11 wheat exports at 16 million tonnes, down half a million tonnes, after a million-tonne boost last month. "With the disappearance of the Wheat Board, going back to different marketing channels…those marketing channels have not matured yet, you might say," Bange said.

The USDA raised its US wheat export forecast by 1.4 million tonnes, and Canada's by two million, offsetting the Australian and EU reductions.