Australia: In April barley planting started in very few places, the mass went in the ground in May, even June seedings are still possible. ABARE forecasts of crop of 6.635 million tons, somewhere in the middle between the record crop of 8.4 million tons in 2001/02 and the disastrous figure of 3.3 million tons last year. Rainfalls, which seemed to break the drought six weeks ago, had little follow-up since. Only coastal areas in East and West received more precipitation, while most of the inland stayed dry. It is too early to cheer or to write off the next crop, only one thing is for sure: after the long drought much more moisture is needed.

27 May, 2003