AUSTRALIA: AWB predicts global wheat surplus, but prices expected to rise

AWB, formerly known as the Australian Wheat Board, has predicted that most wheat-producing countries will be left with huge surpluses as the bumper 2000-01 production season draws to a close. Good weather conditions have meant that throughout the US, Canada and the EU, wheat harvests have increased and the food industries are now vastly over-supplied. There are fears that this will glut the market, forcing prices down, but the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics added that global wheat prices are expected to rise to an average of US$127 per tonne, up from the 1999-00 price of US$113 per tonne.