SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) – Continuing drought is hammering
Australia’s summer crops after devastating its winter output.
The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics further
shaved its forecasts for much- reduced Australian winter crops of
wheat, barley, canola, lupins and other pulses, now being harvested
after one of the worst growing seasons on record.
But savage new cuts to the bureau’s first estimate of the smaller
summer crops show the drought is expected to ravage production into
2003.
“The area sown to summer crops is forecast to drop by 41 percent in
2002-03, with grains production forecast to be down 59 percent to two
million tonnes,” said the bureau’s executive director, Brian Fisher.
The summer sorghum production forecast, which Australian farmers had
hoped might supply enough livestock feed to dampen price rises and
contain grain imports, has been slashed to 855,000 tonnes from 1.85
million tonnes in a September forecast.
After more than seven months of severe drought, the bureau cut the
winter wheat forecast to 9.98 million tonnes. That is down from an
October forecast of 10.13 million.
