Light snow gave mild relief to some drought areas in China’s winter wheat region, but farmers and authorities are still worried.
It was the first precipitation since September, but many areas received the equivalent of only a few millimetres of moisture rather than the 50 mm they need. Authorities used artillery and rockets to seed clouds with silver iodide to enhance precipitation on the weekend.
China’s central government last week allocated an extra $1 billion to increase irrigation, including the drilling of 1,350 new wells.
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There is a lot of coverage about the drought on China television, which can be seen at English. English.cntv.cn.
Most stories show people spreading hoses on fields in preparation for flood irrigation.
A similar winter drought in 2008-09 was overcome thanks to emergency irrigation and the arrival of spring rain. Farmers harvested a bumper wheat crop of 115 million tonnes.
It could happen again this year, but China’s weather department said a major break in the drought is not yet in sight.
China has huge government-held wheat stocks to draw on, but if the crop fails, Beijing would be hard pressed not to turn to the world market for at least some quality wheat.
Meanwhile, temperatures jumped to about 20 C in many parts of the U.S. hard red winter wheat belt on the weekend, melting the snow that fell two weeks ago.
The moisture helped a little, but more is needed and, with no protective snow blanket, the already weakened crop is vulnerable if freezing weather returns.
The weather uncertainty is pushing wheat prices higher, but the opposite is happening in oilseeds.
Brazil is harvesting what could be a record soybean crop and rain has ended the drought in Argentina. There will be fewer soybeans from South America than last year, but the situation is less dire than a month ago. New crop is entering the supply chain and pressuring soybean and canola prices lower. It is a situation that often happens at this time of year.
However, strong demand and the need for a big 2011 crop will keep oilseeds well supported with the chance for another rally as seeding in the United States and Canada
approaches.
