Australia on track for third-largest wheat harvest, record barley crop

Australia is on track to reap its third-biggest wheat harvest and its largest ever barley crop this year, according to a poll of analysts, many of whom have raised their estimates in recent weeks thanks to favourable crop conditions. Australia is the world’s No. 4 wheat exporter and a big shipper of other crops. Its large wheat harvest will add to plentiful global supplies that have driven benchmark Chicago futures to five-year lows. A poll of eight analysts in Australia released a median forecast for the country to produce 35.3 million metric tons of wheat, 14.7 million tons of barley and 6.45 million tons of canola in the harvest that will ramp up in the coming weeks. For wheat, the forecast exceeds last season’s production of 34.1 million tons and the five-year average of 33.8 million tons, though it remains below the record 40.5 million tons harvested in 2022/23. Barley output is set to comfortably beat last year’s harvest of 13.3 million tons and the five-year average of 13.4 ...