August 4, 2015

Australia's wheat faring better despite El Nino

The recent rain in Australia had helped the country's wheat crops to fare better in otherwise challenging conditions caused by the rise of El Nino which could last into 2016.

As a result, output could achieve a volume of 23.5 million tonnes in the current season, based on the median estimate compiled by Bloomberg.

The development is reflective of the optimism expressed by Mark Palmquist, the CEO of GrainCorp Ltd., last week. "We're in a better position than what we would've thought we would have been in, considering we're in El Nino," he remarked.

"There is certainly good rainfall in recent months in New South Wales and southern Queensland, so the crops through there are looking quite good," said Paul Deane, an analyst with Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd.

In June, above-average rainfalls occurred in some parts of western and northern New South Wales, including those affected by drought.

Meanwhile, dryness fell on certain areas in Victoria and Western Australia.

According to Australia's Bureau of Meteorology, Western Australia, the country's top wheat producing state, has a higher probability of witnessing a wetter-than-average weather in its central and southern regions during the August - October period of this year.

Most of eastern Australia, on other hand, possesses about an equal chance of experiencing either a wetter and drier season in the next three months.