AWB CHAIRMAN URGES FARMERS NOT TO CUT PLANTINGS
  Australia could lose valuable wheat
  markets through lack of availability if plantings for the
  coming 1987/88 season are significantly reduced, Australian
  Wheat Board (AWB) chairman Clinton Condon said.
      "If predictions of a 30 pct decrease in plantings prove
  true, Australia may not be able to supply wheat to some of its
  valuable markets," he said in a statement.
      Condon did not say who had made the predictions, but an AWB
  spokesman said there was a general industry feeling that
  farmers, hard hit by low prices and rising costs, could cut
  back plantings sharply. Wheat sowing normally begins in May.
      However, Condon said he did not believe plantings would be
  cut by as much as 30 pct although he realised many farmers were
  facing enormous financial pressures.
      He said the AWB expects the area sown to be about 10.7 mln
  hectares, down from 11.3 mln in 1986/87 when the crop was about
  16 mln tonnes. Final crop estimates for 1986/87 and planting
  intentions for 1987/88 are not yet available.
      If the AWB is unable, because of a short-term cut in
  plantings, to meet the needs of the markets it has developed
  with much time and effort, it may have great difficulty selling
  wheat to those markets in the future, Condon said.
      "Markets which rely on a steady supply of Australian wheat
  understand a decrease in production due to drought but they
  will have difficulty understanding a deliberate decision to
  decrease production," Condon said.
      "If Australia wants wheat to continue as a major export
  income earner, governments and government authorities will need
  to closely examine ways of contributing to the continuing
  viability of the wheat industry," he added.
      Australia's leading wheat markets include China, Egypt,
  Iran, Iraq, the Soviet Union and Japan.
  

