Australia Battered By Weekend Rains
More than 120 millimetres (4.7 inches) of rain has fallen since Friday in parts of northwest New South Wales -- a major wheat growing region.
At least one million tonnes out of an expected 20 million tonne crop were likely to be downgraded from prime quality to feed grade, officials said on Monday.
They said some crops in parts of the eastern states of New South Wales and Queensland that grow prime quality wheat had been severely damaged by wet weather last month which continued into the weekend.
Crops in the southern part of Western Australia were also at risk because of wet weather at harvest time.
"There's a lot of crop damage, anything that's left will be downgraded," said Gavin Warburton, a crop analyst at private consultancy Australian Crop Forecasters.
Mr Warburton said the rain was not likely to affect the size of the harvest but crop quality was a significant issue.
Warburton said that before rains damaged crops between 12-13 million tonnes of wheat had been expected to available for export from the 2008/09 harvest.
At least one million tonnes out of an expected 20 million tonne crop were likely to be downgraded from prime quality to feed grade, officials said on Monday.
They said some crops in parts of the eastern states of New South Wales and Queensland that grow prime quality wheat had been severely damaged by wet weather last month which continued into the weekend.
Crops in the southern part of Western Australia were also at risk because of wet weather at harvest time.
"There's a lot of crop damage, anything that's left will be downgraded," said Gavin Warburton, a crop analyst at private consultancy Australian Crop Forecasters.
Mr Warburton said the rain was not likely to affect the size of the harvest but crop quality was a significant issue.
Warburton said that before rains damaged crops between 12-13 million tonnes of wheat had been expected to available for export from the 2008/09 harvest.
