December 19, 2006

Australia has 44 applications to export bulk wheat

Australia's government has received some 44 applications to export wheat after wheat exporter AWB was stripped of its monopoly over illegal payments made to Iraqi regime to secure wheat deals.

The applications have been handed over to the agriculture minister Peter McGauran, Glen Taylor, chief executive of the Wheat Export Authority said. The fate of the applications would be decided by Dec 20.

The government this month took control of the nation's A$3.3-billion (US$2.6 billion) wheat export market for a six-month period pending a review after it stripped AWB of its veto.

AWB International, which managed the monopoly, has been allowed to retain the authority to export bulk wheat to its key markets and does not need an export permit from the minister to do so, Ben Houston, a spokesman for agriculture minister McGauran, said Dec 6.