Australian wheat forecast raised, quality woes remain

Australian wheat production estimates for 2021-22 have been revised up by nearly 1.8mn t to a record 34.4mn t, despite persisting crop quality issues because of recent rains across the country, data from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (Abares) show.

Favourable weather conditions in the spring continued to support yields expected for the 2021-22 season in main growing regions. But rains in November caused harvest delays and are prompting a fall in grain quality in unharvested crops, Abares said.

New South Wales had the highest wheat yields of 3.3 t/hectare (ha) and highest production of 12mn t in Australia, down by 7pc on the year. Queensland had the largest production increase of 62pc above year-ago levels, bringing total production to 1.79mn t. South Australia had the lowest yields of 2.22 t/ha, resulting in 4.6mn t of wheat production.

Meanwhile, barley and canola production were forecast at 13.3mn t and 5.7mn t, respectively, up from 12.48mn t and 5.04mn t estimated previously. This would result in overall production of 58.4mn t of winter crop production in Australia for 2021-22.

And for summer crops, the high levels of rainfall in November have resulted in high soil moisture levels and allowed farmers to increase planting areas. The area planted for summer crops in 2021-22 is forecast to increase by 36pc from the previous year and reach 1.4mn ha.

By Michael Hanbury