Farmers are relieved that rain has finally fallen across Southern and Central Queensland cropping areas over the weekend.
Although falls were lighter that what many Darling Downs farmers were looking for, the weekend rain should be sufficient to allow growers to plant remaining winter crop this week.
The best of the rain was in the western areas of Southern Queensland and Central Queensland, while totals were generally lighter east of Goondiwindi and Miles.
Central Queensland grain farmers received their first decent rain in months with a general 25mm to 75mm across the Central Highlands. The heaviest of the rain was in the northern areas with Clermont receiving 75mm for the week and Emerald 51mm. Rainfall was lighter south of Emerald. Springsure only received 17mm for the week and Rolleston 30mm.
Western areas saw the best of the rain in Southern Queensland. Areas west of Goondiwindi received a general 40-50mm for the week. Talwood recorded 53mm, Surat 42mm and St George 43mm.
Rainfall totals were generally lighter east and north east of Goondiwindi. Southwood, Meandarra, Roma and Miles received a general 20mm to 30mm but rainfall totals were lighter towards the central Darling Downs.
Most of the central Downs received 10mm to 20mm for the week which is well short of what farmers were hoping for. Nonetheless, it’s still expected to trigger widespread planting activity, as farmers look to complete the rest of the planting activities, with farmer’s intent on making the most of the available moisture.
North western NSW also received widespread soaking rain over the weekend, including areas through Walgett and Collarenebri, some of which haven’t been planted in three seasons.
Chickpeas prices plummeted last week on expectations to last of the intended planted area, which had been in the balance, will be seeded after the rain.
Old crop Brisbane chickpeas prices fell by $140 to $1,160. Smaller declines were seen in the new crop prices which slipped to $890 Brisbane. Similar declines were seen in southern pulse markets.
Feed grains were also softer but not to the same extent as pulses. Stockfeed wheat into the Darling Downs fell by $8 to $278 delivered, while F1 feed barley lost $7 to $256.
Sorghum fell by $3 to $238 delivered into Downs markets while Brisbane was down to $240.
Farmer selling in sorghum picked up last week ahead of the rain with traders reporting reasonable activity ahead of the expected rain. Buying depth is still seen as light in historical terms, with exporter activity remaining patchy at best.
US wheat futures rallied last week by three per cent as excessive rains swept across United States and parts of Western Europe, threatening wheat quality. Torrential rain across parts of France and Germany has resulted in flooding and concerns are growing over the quality of the crop and potential production losses.
Leaving aside the quality concerns, the global production outlook improves. Production estimates for both the EU and Black Sea have been edging higher. Despite last week’s deluge, expectations of the US harvest continue to grow. Recent rain in Canada has put them back into satisfactory and widespread rain across eastern Australia will allow remaining areas to be seeded.
