AUSTRALIAN WINTER CROP TOTALS EXPECTED TO INCREASE 9%
Australia’s overall winter crop production is expected to increase 9% to 51.3 million tonnes in 2024-25 and be the fifth highest on record, according to the June report from ABARES. Wheat production is forecast to increase by 12% to 29.1 million tonnes while barley production is estimated to increase 7% to 11.5 million tonnes. Canola production is estimated to drop 5% to 5.4 million tonnes. Conditions in Queensland and northern and central New South Wales have been close to ideal for the start of the winter cropping season. However, rainfall this fall has been lower than average across major cropping regions in western Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia, and soil moisture has remained low. Australian summer crop production is estimated to fall by 11% to 4.6 million tonnes in 2023–24. Sorghum production is estimated to fall by 16% to 2.2 million tonnes in 2023–24.
(Link: WorldGrain)
CHINA GRAIN STORAGE TOPS 700 MILLION TONNES
National grain storage capacity in China topped 700 million tonnes by the end of 2023, up 36% from 2014 and generally on par with the country’s annual grain production, according to an official of the country’s National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration. Stack storage and open-air piles largely have been eliminated across the country, while “four-in-one” grain storage technologies that cover mechanical ventilation, fumigation, monitoring and cooling have been applied as a standard in state-owned grain warehouses, improving grain storage quality and freshness.
China also has been promoting green grain storage technologies in its grain warehouses, covering such areas as temperature control, internal circulation and comprehensive pest control. By the end of 2023, the total storage capacity of low-temperature and near-low-temperature grain warehouses nationwide had climbed to 200 million tonnes, and the loss rate of state-owned grain warehouses remained within a reasonable range of 1%. China, the world’s biggest agricultural importer with the second-largest population at 1.4 billion people, has made reducing reliance on overseas suppliers a priority in recent years.
(Link: WorldGrain)
