Wheat Exporters in Australia Look Past China to North Africa

Australia wheat exporters have looked past china to North Africa due to trade disruptions caused by the coronavirus, Australian agriculture has been hit by a raft of curved balls in recent months. Still, for wheat farmers, the outlook has seldom been better.

This was stated by Andrew Whitelaw, an agricultural analyst at Thomas Elder Markets in Melbourne.

Whitelaw said increased export supplies from Australia and weather woes in other parts of the world mean that the top buyers in this region  including Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam  are likely to pivot back to Australia.

Australia is generally known to be one of the world’s leading exporters of wheat used in everything from bread to pasta and cakes, and this year the country’s on track to harvest its second-largest crop ever — more than 30 million tons — after widespread rains turbocharged production.

“In recent years, we haven’t had the volumes to meet the demand of Southeast Asia,” said Whitelaw. “Not only do we have a bumper crop, but we’ve also got the potential for poor crops” in other parts of the world, he said.