China cancels a million tonnes of Aussie wheat orders

Chinese wheat importers have cancelled around a million tonnes of orders of Australian wheat in recent weeks in a bearish move for local wheat values. Andrew Whitelaw, commodity analyst with Episode 3, said so far around a million tonnes for delivery from February to April delivery had been cancelled. It comes after China also cancelled purchases of American wheat to the tune of 500,000 tonnes, while there is talk there could also be French wheat orders cancelled, although nothing has been officially confirmed. The Chinese decision to cancel the orders comes as world markets have fallen to three and a half year lows in line with greater stocks, solid yield potential for the upcoming northern hemisphere crop and more certainty about the ability to export out of the Black Sea. Mr Whitelaw said it was a substantial dent to Australia's export program. "Based on a total exportable surplus of 20 million tonnes of wheat it is 5 per cent of that, so this is significant," he said. He said ...