Australian farmers are on track to harvest their second-biggest-ever wheat crop after years of drought, as the country’s chief forecaster raised its production estimate on Tuesday by nearly 10% to more than 30 million tonnes because of favorable rainfalls, reports Reuters.
The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) said wheat production during the 2020/21 season would total 31.17 million tonnes, up from a September estimate of 28.91 million tonnes and not far off the country’s all-time high of 31.8 million tonnes in 2016/17.
The bumper crops, already being harvested in many parts of the country, are likely to weigh on benchmark prices, which hit a six-year high last month.