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Recovery forecast for rice growers
18 Nov 2003
Rice growers are hoping for a significant recovery this season, with potentially record prices encouraging them to increase production. Australia's main rice marketer, SunRice, is expecting returns to growers of about $280 a tonne for medium grain varieties - the highest ever paid and up from $242 a tonne last season.
SunRice CEO Gary Helou could not say how much bigger the harvest in March 2004 will be, given continuing uncertainty over irrigation water allocations, but he said it will be substantially larger than last year.
Rice production, which is concentrated in southern New South Wales, declined to 392,000 tonnes last summer, compared with the five-year average of 1.4 million tonnes.
Wheat growers also received good news on November 17: AWB raised its estimated returns for the harvest now under way by $3-$5 a tonne. The benchmark APW grade also rose by $5 a tonne to $218 a tonne.
Australian Financial Review, 18/11/03.
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