Australia: Prices firm as rain slows Queensland harvest

Values for most markets quoted have firmed in the past week in response to international and domestic factors. On the local front, storms have brought rain and hail to parts of Queensland where harvest is gathering pace, and frosts have further impacted yield potential of some crops around the Victoria-South Australia border. In far northern New South Wales, harvest has started in the past week on a number of farms, while in the state’s far south, frosted crops are being cut for hay after receiving limited in-crop rain. Consumers are advancing coverage in all states, with a big crop from northern and central NSW the buffer for feedmills in the south. Table 1: Indicative prices in Australian dollars per tonne. Some wild storms over the past two days have dumped 80mm or more of rain on isolated crops in southern and Central Qld, but plenty of gauges registered not a drop. Storms have also brought hail and wind to some districts. With good drying weather following, traders told Grain ...