Australian wheatgrowers earned $3.1 billion from AWB’s 2004-05 National Wheat Pool, the two-year marketing program for which was finalised earlier in 2006.
The results for the pool are contained in the 2004-05 AWB National Pool Performance Report, released today (20 November) by AWB International Chairman, Ian Donges.
“The result incorporated some $262.2 million in value above the wheat industry benchmark, generated through a combination of AWB’s strong sales performance and active commodity and currency hedging programs”, Mr Donges said.
“It was a year of a 21.9 million tonne wheat crop and some 14.6 million tonnes went into the pool, the vast majority of which was exported.
“Strong export growth was achieved to Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia and China, with Sudan emerging as a key market for hard wheat in particular.
“By far our largest market was Indonesia, receiving almost 2.4 million tonnes.
“The importance of this market, and the development work we’ve done there for Australian exports, underscores the importance of an orderly approach, rather than the fragmented approach being proposed by others in the Australian grain industry.
“This is even more significant in a season like we have currently, when there will be so little wheat available to export from Australia that long-term market relationships must be nurtured.
“It must be understood that there simply won’t be enough wheat in Australia this year to supply many countries, however we expect to complete sales contracts to core long standing customers in places such as Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sudan, Thailand and Yemen”, he said.
Mr Donges said copies of the Pool Performance report are available now on AWB’s website, with hard copies available on request from the AWB grower service centre on 1800 054 433, or by the end of this week, at any AWB office around Australia.
“We have taken the decision to limit the number of hard copies and reduce costs in a very tough drought year but I encourage wheat growers to read the report online because it explains the pool performance in full and all aspects of governance improvements by AWB International,” he said.
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