New AustraliaWheat Crop Forecast OverstatedAustralia’s forecast...

New Australia

Wheat Crop Forecast Overstated

Australia’s forecast new crop wheat production of a

drought-reduced 10 million metric tons is “overstated by 20%

to 30%,” according to one of Australia’s biggest wheat growers,

Ron Greentree.

Greentree expects a national harvest to be just 6 million to

8 million tons, down sharply from an actual output of 25 million

tons last year.

Farmers are stuck in a state of disbelief about the crop, he

said.

“People haven’t accepted how bad it is,” he said in a brief

interview in Parliament House, between meetings in which he

is lobbying legislators to liberalize Australia’s wheat export

arrangements.

Greentree, who served as a director of GrainCorp Ltd.

(GNC.AU) for 11 years until December 2005 and chairman for

six of those, farms at Mungindi in northwest New South Wales.

He was also chairman of lobby group/investment concern

Grain Growers Association for more than five years.

If his estimate comes to pass, Australian wheat production

could fall by as much as around 75% from the actual output

last crop year ended March 31, sharply reducing export availability.