Australia NSW wheat crop could fall to 4.5 million tonnes

Production in New South Wales state from a wheat crop to be harvested this year could fall as low as 4.5 million tonnes, down from an estimated 6.5 million tonnes a month ago, the state's Department of Primary Industries winter cereals technical specialist, Frank McRae, said Thursday (September 24).

"We're down to about 5.5 million (tonnes of) wheat at the moment. I'd say we could end up somewhere below 5 (million), maybe 4.5 to 5," he told Dow Jones Newswires by telephone.

The savage dust storms seen across the state this week wouldn't have damaged wheat crops; rather it was the dry weather responsible for the crop downgrade, he said.