July 28, 2004

Australia's GrainCorp Eyes 13 Million MT Winter Crop Intake

Australian grain logistics, marketing and milling concern GrainCorp Ltd. Wednesday forecast grain intake from new winter crops at 13.0 million metric tons.

If this first forecast for new-crop intake is achieved, it will be up 20% from actual intake of 10.8 million tons from the old crop, it said.

The forecast is based on average rainfall for the remainder of the year, with additional rains required through the main growing period to October, the company said.

The long-term average for receivals from winter crops in Australia's three eastern states is 12.0 million tons.

The main winter crop is wheat, but substantial quantities of barley and canola are also produced. Most of the grain is exported.

Crops were planted in eastern Australia mostly in May and June and will be harvested October though December.

GrainCorp dominates grain storage in eastern Australia, but its intake forecast cannot be taken as a proxy for production in the area. Other logistics providers store grain, while some grain is sent direct to end users and some is stored on farm.

The company also revised up its receival total for the 2004 summer crop to 1.0 million tons from 800,000 tons previously. It did not provide a comparable receival figure for the 2003 summer crop, which is mostly sorghum.