Although the last of the harvesting from the current winter grain harvest is yet to finish, eastern Australia's wet summer is setting the platform for big planting in 2022.
The wet summer has soaked cropping areas stretching from Queensland, NSW and through to north-eastern and central Victoria.
Unsettled, stormy weather dropped more rain across eastern Australia in the past week. This included patchy falls of up to 50mm in the Darling Downs, 20-50mm across parts of the NSW central west and Riverina as well as 50-60mm in cropping areas in northeastern Victoria.
Wetter than normal weather patterns are expected to persist into autumn. Parts of northern Australia and the east coast cropping areas are expected to see above average rainfall from February through to March, the Bureau of Meteorology said in its latest climate outlook statement. It said areas along the east coast may see double their normal rainfall over this period as the La Nina influence continues to dominate weather patterns. Drier than normal patterns are likely to persist for south-east SA and parts of Victoria, they said.
On the heels of a record large Australian 2021 winter grain harvest, ample rain and the abundance of summer pasture is also boosting farmer optimism about next year's winter crop.
Favourable weather patterns and large supplies are prompting some farmers to release more of the old crop wheat crop, which is pressuring old crop values.
Australia exported 1.63 million tonnes of wheat in November, according to the latest trade data from the Bureau of Statistics released last week. China was by far the largest destination taking more than 670,000 tonnes for the month.
Grain exports will increase further in December and January recently harvested winter crops are available in all states which will allow supply chains to operate at near capacity.
Demand for Australian wheat remains strong, rain interrupted harvest which downgraded the quality profile of the crop. Australian based exported reportedly sold several cargoes of feed quality wheat into South Korea. Traders also reported the sale of several cargoes of milling wheat into Iraq.
Global wheat markets remain under pressure, sinking for a third consecutive week. USDA released its January WASDE report last week which was deemed as slightly bearish, after lifting global supplies and forecast ending stocks.
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