AUSTRALIA'S wheat crop could reach a record 27 million tonnes in 2008-09, double the drought-affected 13.1 million tonnes of the previous year, private group Australian Crop Forecasters said yesterday.
Good early rains in eastern Australia before planting in April and May have lifted the outlook, following two years of small, drought-affected crops that have boosted world wheat futures prices to record highs in recent months.
"Average yields would get us to 27 million tonnes, a very reasonable target at this point in the year," said Ron Storey, head of Australian Crop Forecasters.
This is the group's first official forecast for the new wheat crop in Australia, which is normally the second-largest wheat exporter in the world after the US.
Mr Storey said on Thursday that his group's first official forecast was expected to be 26-27 million tonnes.
The forecast compares with the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics' prediction of 25.953 million tonnes earlier this month.
A 27 million tonne wheat crop would break the previous Australian record of 26.1 million tonnes in 2003-04, Mr Storey said.
The group forecast that wheat plantings for the next crop would rise by 3.8% to 13.5 million hectares, subject to opening season rains in April and May.
"After two years of drought in 2006 and 2007, plus record prices, a 3.8% increase in wheat plantings for 2008 is entirely achievable," Mr Storey said.
REUTERS
