Wheat crop threatened by rain, quality issues
SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) – Weather extremes have hit Australia’s wheat harvest, reducing the expected final production.
Extreme heat earlier in harvest hurt southeastern Australia’s crop and now rain across the same area is slowing harvest and fuelling worries about quality.
The wheat harvest, now about 40 percent complete, could be smaller than last year despite early hopes that the crop would be the best in four years, National Australia Bank Ltd. said Nov. 27.
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The bank cut its estimate of the crop to 21 million tonnes. Other recent outlooks from other forecasters range from 20.9 million to 22.7 million tonnes.
Barley crops in the worst affected states, South Australia and Victoria, might also have quality issues, threatening to reduce the supply of malting barley.
The Australian Oilseeds Federation said as Nov. 13 the canola crop was forecast at 1.795 million tonnes, down from 1.878 million produced last year, but up from the August forecast of 1.686 million tonnes.
Delayed rains dampen crop prospects
RABAT, Morocco (Reuters) – A big North African wheat crop last year cut demand for Canadian durum, but a dry start to Morocco’s winter-seeded crop this year might change the scenario for 2010-11.
The country was hoping for another big crop after the government distributed 1.4 million tonnes of subsidized cereal seeds this year, about twice what it made available last year.
“The amounts of distribution of the seeds and fertilizers hit a record for the past 10 years. That is a good signal for the cereals season,” said Ahmed Ouayach, chair of the Moroccan Agriculture and Rural Development Confederation.
Last year, the country enjoyed the highest rainfall levels in 50 years, leading to a bumper crop.
Bloc seen enabling U.S. soybean imports
HAMBURG, Germany (Reuters) – European Union soybean importers hoped last week that the European Commission would soon take action to allow imports of American soybeans and soymeal to resume.
EU imports of U.S. soybeans and meal for animal feed were stymied because of the EU’s zero-tolerance rule on imports with traces of GMOs that have not yet been approved in the bloc.
The problem was traces of unapproved corn varieties in soybean shipments.
Two industry associations said they expected the European Commission would make a critical approval of imports of the GM corn type MIR604, which would open the door for a rapid resumption of imports of soybean and soymeal from the United States.
