The Australian Bureau of Agricultural Resources Economics and Sciences (ABARES) is forecasting a winter crop of 50.9mt, the fourth biggest winter crop on record for Australia. ABARES tips 23.4m ha planted, slightly down on last season’s record but still ahead of historical averages with the fall.

ABARES said the opening of the winter cropping season in 2022/23 was favourable in most cropping regions with above average rainfall in the east and WA from February to April, meanwhile South Australia has been drier than average until last week when good rain fell. Significant rainfall fell through NSW, Queensland and parts of eastern Victoria grain growing regions which has led to issues with planting the crop, however, ABARES still expects large production for the east coast as yields in NSW and Queensland are likely to be markedly above average.