Australia: Drought demand weakens in south

still hand-feeding stock in parts of South Australia, Victoria and southern New South Wales, and are tipped to be back in the market by August to get them through to what everyone is hoping will be good paddock in spring. In the northern market, accumulation for bulk barley cargoes out of Brisbane and Newcastle has supported prompt values in the face of limited consumer buying. Limited grower selling is supporting the wheat market, where global values are under pressure from the Northern Hemisphere’s new crop. Table 1: Indicative prices in Australian dollars per tonne. GrainCorp’s Carrington terminal in Newcastle and Fisherman Islands terminal in Brisbane both have barley cargoes going out this month. This reflects the northern region’s comfort based on current-crop stocks, and confidence that a big new crop is coming. However, some parts of the north could do with a drink, and yield potential for cereal crops in parts of southern Queensland’s western Downs has dropped from a ...