Australia
March 4, 2008
Australia’s grain sorghum crop is
forecast to increase by 80 per cent to a record 2.5 million
tonnes in 2007-08, reflecting average to above average rainfall
since October 2007 throughout parts of Queensland and northern
New South Wales, the latest Australian Crop Report reveals.
The February issue of the Australian Crop Report was released
today by ABARE’s
Executive Director, Phillip Glyde.
‘While recent floods around Emerald in Queensland damaged some
of central Queensland’s grain sorghum crop, the increased yield
potential in the southern Queensland grain sorghum growing
regions will more than offset the losses,’ Mr Glyde said.
Mr Glyde noted that total summer crop production for Australia
is forecast to be more than 3 million tonnes. This is well short
of the previous record of 5.3 million tonnes in 2000-01 and
reflects small rice and cotton crops in 2007-08.
In the case of rice and cotton, Mr Glyde noted that a lack of
irrigation water at the time of planting means only a small area
was planted to each crop. As a result, the harvest of these
crops will be down by 90 and 58 per cent respectively on the
previous year.
The 2007-08 winter cropping season is an improvement on the
previous year’s drought reduced harvest, but still well below
average.
Total winter grains production is estimated to have been around
22.6 million tonnes in 2007-08, up by 30 per cent from the
previous year but well below the five year average of 35 million
tonnes.
Of the major winter grains, Mr Glyde said that ‘wheat production
is estimated at around 13 million tonnes, barley around 6
million tonnes and canola just over 1 million tonnes.’ |
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