As dry El Niño weather reduces yields, Australia is likely to cut its 2023/24 wheat production forecast by about 1 million tons, Nasdaq reports.
“Compared to last year, the harvest will be 10 million tons less,” IKON Commodities said.
Traders and brokers expect that the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) will reduce the production figure from its June forecast of 26.2 million tons by 1 million tons, which is 34% less than in the previous year.
For barley, ABARES’ June forecast was 9.9 million tons, down 30% from the previous year.
Reference. El Niño and La Niña are the opposite extreme values of water temperature and atmospheric pressure characteristic of the equatorial Pacific Ocean, which last about six months.