AWB CHAIRMAN URGES FARMERS NOT TO CUT PLANTINGS
Australia could lose valuable wheat
markets through lack of availability if plantings for the
coming 1987/88 season are significantly reduced, Australian
Wheat Board (AWB) chairman Clinton Condon said.
    "If predictions of a 30 pct decrease in plantings prove
true, Australia may not be able to supply wheat to some of its
valuable markets," he said in a statement.
    Condon did not say who had made the predictions, but an AWB
spokesman said there was a general industry feeling that
farmers, hard hit by low prices and rising costs, could cut
back plantings sharply. Wheat sowing normally begins in May.
    However, Condon said he did not believe plantings would be
cut by as much as 30 pct although he realised many farmers were
facing enormous financial pressures.
    He said the AWB expects the area sown to be about 10.7 mln
hectares, down from 11.3 mln in 1986/87 when the crop was about
16 mln tonnes. Final crop estimates for 1986/87 and planting
intentions for 1987/88 are not yet available.
    If the AWB is unable, because of a short-term cut in
plantings, to meet the needs of the markets it has developed
with much time and effort, it may have great difficulty selling
wheat to those markets in the future, Condon said.
    "Markets which rely on a steady supply of Australian wheat
understand a decrease in production due to drought but they
will have difficulty understanding a deliberate decision to
decrease production," Condon said.
    "If Australia wants wheat to continue as a major export
income earner, governments and government authorities will need
to closely examine ways of contributing to the continuing
viability of the wheat industry," he added.
    Australia's leading wheat markets include China, Egypt,
Iran, Iraq, the Soviet Union and Japan.
 REUTER
