Riverina grain growers are on edge after wheat prices hit a 10-year low in response to better than expected stocks in Australia and internationally.
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NSW Farmers Federation president Derek Schoen said there was a palpable sense of worry among producers.
“It’s concerning, all the trends at the moment seem to be downward,” he said.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty out there, especially with Brexit, which is causing commodity markets to be a little bit on edge.
“Record stockpiles of wheat is also adding to a downward pressure. Then we also have the prospect of a reasonable season in Australia for the production of wheat.”
Following a negative US Department of Agriculture report last week wheat prices fell around $A17.70 a tonne up until Monday.
The slump has seen over US100c/bu fall from the September contract since the early June rally, which peaked on June 9.
This equates to a close to $A50/t fall in prices.
Ideal conditions in virtually all key major wheat producing nations have seen the International Grains Council stack on an extra 7 million tonnes of production in its latest 2016 crop estimate for a total global crop of 729 million tonnes, pushing out the world wheat surplus to 9 million tonnes.
Victorian Farmers Federation grains president Brett Hosking said many producers were hoping to pay back debts this year.
“It’s frustrating for growers, particularly when we’re looking at a what could be quite a good season, and for those ones who suffered quite severely with the dry weather that we experienced over the last couple,” he told The Border Mail.
But both Mr Schoen and Mr Hosking noted prices usually dropped this time of year as the northern hemisphere went into harvest.
“It’s traditionally a period when prices do take a little bit of a dive because you’re seeing a huge new amount of grain come on to the market basically all at once,” Mr Hosking said.
“What we do hope is that by the time our harvest comes on by November things would've picked up for Australian growers.”
It’s frustrating for growers, particularly when we’re looking at a what could be quite a good season
- VFF grains president Brett Hosking