Flooding and excessive rains across key parts of Australia's wheat growing areas have resulted in extensive damage to what was expected to be a record bin-busting high quality crop just a few weeks ago, exacerbating concerns over world food supplies. A lower quality crop in Australia, the world's No.2 supplier of the grain, comes as dryness in North America and the Russia-Ukraine war curb global supplies, fuelling red-hot food prices.
While Australia is still on track for a third year of bumper harvest, about half of the crop grown on its eastern grain belt - known for premium hard wheat - is likely to be reduced to animal feed, although the extent of the damage will be known after waters recede, traders, analysts and farmers said.