FAO/GIEWS - Foodcrops & Shortages 11/00 - AUSTRALIA (10 November)
In Australia, prospects for this year’s wheat and small coarse grains crops have deteriorated following persisting hot and dry weather in the last two months. The harvest is already underway in some parts and early reports indicate that, as a result of the drought, grain size and quality is below earlier expectations and below normal. The most recent official forecast dates from early September when ABARE forecast 2000 wheat output at 22.2 million tonnes. However, since that forecast was issued, crops in the north and west have been hit by hot and dry weather, which has adversely affected yields. FAO now forecast wheat output in 2000 at 20 million tonnes, which would be 17 percent down from 1999 and below the average of the past five years. However, despite the drought, production of barley, the main coarse grain crop, could still increase somewhat from last year following a sharp expansion in the area planted.
Preparations for the 2001 paddy season have started. According to ABARE, paddy output next season could reach 1.4 million tonnes, substantially above the 1.1 million tonnes harvested this season. This increase would rely on a 19 percent expansion in plantings, to 159 000 hectares, and on a 7 percent increase in yields, to 8.8 tonnes per hectare. The outcome, however, will depend on the availability of irrigation water in New South Wales, where production is concentrated.
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