Australia: Production Challenged
5 February 2007 Wheat, barley, sorghum, and rice production is drastically down in Australia due to drought conditions and water shortages, according to the US Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agriculture Service (USDA-FAS).
Wheat production for 2006/07 is estimated at 10.5 million metric tons (MMT), a decline of nearly 60% from last year. Late planting rains followed by drought in the second half of the season combined to reduce wheat production to the lowest level since the 2002/03 harvest of 10.1 MMT.
Total barley production in 2006/07 is estimated at 3.7 MMT, down sharply last year. A harvest of this size would represent the smallest barley crop for over a decade for Australia. Also down are sorghum, with production for 2007/08 forecast at 1.5 MMT, and rice, with a 2007/08 forecast of 126 MT, down drastically from the 1,048 MT estimated for the previous year due to the extreme shortage of irrigation water as well as the severity of drought during the crop cycle.
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