This article is pulled from a CME Group newswire.
Australian Wheat Export Regulator:
Demand, Competition Rises
Demand for and competition to export wheat from
Australia has increased since export arrangements were liberalized
July 1, 2008, Ted Woodley, chairman of regulator Wheat
Exports Australia, said Monday.
Responding to questions at a Senate committee hearing,
Woodley said 22 companies have been accredited as bulk
exporters, including former monopoly operator AWB Ltd.
(AWB.AU), and these are competing for wheat with participants
in the domestic industry, such as flour millers.
Of the accredited companies, 14 have already exported
bulk cargoes, a number that will soon rise to 16.
As part of the accreditation process, an applicant must submit
a proposal to export wheat, and while many of these might
be a little optimistic, the sum total of export proposals well
exceeds the amount of grain available for export, he said.
“That would indicate that the demand for grain exceeds
supply,” Woodley said.
Moreover, some of the accredited exporters are now selling
into new markets, while some are replacing wheat that they
had previously sought internationally with Australian wheat, he
said, without going into details.
“Now they are buying some, or in some cases nearly all, of
their grain within Australia,” he said. “The impression we’re
getting is that there has been an increase in competition and an
increase in demand for Australian wheat.”
Australia’s 2008-09 wheat crop yielded 21.4 million metric
tons, according to the government’s chief commodities forecaster,
the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource With an annual domestic market of around 7.0 million tons,
the balance of production is available for export.
National production in the two previous years was reduced
by a drought, with the 2007-08 crop producing 13.0 million
tons and the 2006-07 crop 10.8 million tons, sharply reducing
the availability of wheat for export.
Wheat Exports Australia Chief Executive Peter Woods told
the Senate committee that more than 3.0 million tons of wheat
has been exported since October, the most aggressive export
and shipping program “for a long time.”
Australian Wheat Export Regulator:
Demand, Competition Rises
Demand for and competition to export wheat from
Australia has increased since export arrangements were liberalized
July 1, 2008, Ted Woodley, chairman of regulator Wheat
Exports Australia, said Monday.
Responding to questions at a Senate committee hearing,
Woodley said 22 companies have been accredited as bulk
exporters, including former monopoly operator AWB Ltd.
(AWB.AU), and these are competing for wheat with participants
in the domestic industry, such as flour millers.
Of the accredited companies, 14 have already exported
bulk cargoes, a number that will soon rise to 16.
As part of the accreditation process, an applicant must submit
a proposal to export wheat, and while many of these might
be a little optimistic, the sum total of export proposals well
exceeds the amount of grain available for export, he said.
“That would indicate that the demand for grain exceeds
supply,” Woodley said.
Moreover, some of the accredited exporters are now selling
into new markets, while some are replacing wheat that they
had previously sought internationally with Australian wheat, he
said, without going into details.
“Now they are buying some, or in some cases nearly all, of
their grain within Australia,” he said. “The impression we’re
getting is that there has been an increase in competition and an
increase in demand for Australian wheat.”
Australia’s 2008-09 wheat crop yielded 21.4 million metric
tons, according to the government’s chief commodities forecaster,
the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource With an annual domestic market of around 7.0 million tons,
the balance of production is available for export.
National production in the two previous years was reduced
by a drought, with the 2007-08 crop producing 13.0 million
tons and the 2006-07 crop 10.8 million tons, sharply reducing
the availability of wheat for export.
Wheat Exports Australia Chief Executive Peter Woods told
the Senate committee that more than 3.0 million tons of wheat
has been exported since October, the most aggressive export
and shipping program “for a long time.”
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