Fed: Crop harvest to be poorer than expected due to Nov rains

AAP General News (Australia)
12-09-2008
Fed: Crop harvest to be poorer than expected due to Nov rains

CANBERRA, Dec 9 AAP - Rain when it was not needed has resulted in a very disappointing
end to the winter cropping season, the nation's commodity forecaster says.

Untimely rainfall last month affected the quality of grain crops as harvest time approached.

As a result there were varying degrees of quality downgrading.

The latest quarterly crop report from from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and
Resource Economics, released on Tuesday, forecasts:

- Total winter grains production to be up by more than a third on last year to 30.6
million tonnes;

- A doubling in the area planted to cotton to 153,500 hectares;

- Rice plantings to be four times last year at 8,000 hectares;

- A 15 per cent drop in the area planted to grain sorghum.

The nation's wheat harvest is expected to top 20 million tonnes, significantly higher
than last season, but well below mid-year expectations when conditions were looking more
favourable.

A very poor spring in southern NSW, Victoria and South Australia adversely affected crops.

Rain in all wheat belt states, except South Australia, has interrupted the winter grains harvest.

While rice and cotton plantings are well up on last year, the forecasts are still well
below historical levels.

AAP srj/rl/kms

KEYWORD: CROP

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