Government Forecasts Bumper 43.4 Million Tonnes Summer Harvest of Crops
Australia expects a strong summer harvest of 43.3 million tonnes crops, the Australian Crop Report released on Tuesday forecast.
The recovery of the agriculture sector from floods is led by Western Australia which is anticipated to harvest 14.67 million tonnes, said Dr Terry Sheales, acting deputy executive director of the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences.
South Australia is expected to harvest 7.9 million tonnes, down from previous estimate of 8.1 million tonnes, but it is still the state's fourth largest crop ever. The state is expected to harvest over 5 million tonnes of grain due to good weather conditions across Australia the past week.
Victoria's production is also slightly down to 8.8 million tonnes, but it is still the third-highest volume of harvest for the state in the past decade and almost four times the harvest level when drought hit Victoria which harvested only 1.75 million tonnes in 2006.
However, while volume is going up, prices are on a downward trend. Farmers are being paid in 2011 $155 a tonne for milling-quality wheat, down from $185 in 2010 for feed-quality grain, said Victorian Farmers Federation President Andrew Broad.
Luke Matthews, a commodity strategist of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said the extraordinary large crop will continue to place pressure on Australian grain prices, particularly for lower-quality grain.