June 15, 2006
Australia's AWB expects wheat crop to be 22-25 million tonnes
Wheat exporter AWB Ltd is holding its estimate for new crop wheat production forecast in a range of 23 million-25 million tonnes after widespread rain in eastern Australia in the past week, company spokesman Peter McBride said Thursday (Jun 15).
Bureau of Meteorology data shows many grain-growing areas have received showers of 15-40 millimetres in the week to Thursday.
McBride said the rain in New South Wales state was particularly welcome given previous dry conditions, though more rain is required for further plantings in many other areas, including Western Australia, usually the biggest wheat-producing state.
There is still time to plant new crops to allow ripening before harvest in November and December, he said.
Meanwhile, Michael Vaughan, AWB's manager in New South Wales, said the rains in the eastern states over the past week triggered widespread sowing activity, while also germinating crops that were seeded into dry ground.
"There has been considerable dry sowing this year, following success of the practice last year," he said.
Some farmers hope for more rain to complete their planting programmes, particularly in Victoria and southern Queensland, he said.
South Australia largely missed the rainfall over the past week, but in general, plantings there are a month ahead of last year, with good soil moisture allowing sowing to progress well, he said.
Tobin Gorey, a commodity strategist at Commonwealth bank of Australia said weather forecasters expect some more rain in eastern crop areas this week, with weather models offering heavier rains next week.
The government's chief commodities forecaster, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural & Resource Economics, or Abare, will issue forecasts for new winter crops in a Crop Report scheduled for Jun 20.
In early March, Abare forecast new crop wheat production at 24.55 million tonnes, down from actual output of 25.09 million tonnes in the last crop year ended March 31.
