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Usage data
The amount of wheat used by millers last season (2007/08) reached a high of nearly 6Mt. This was 0.4Mt or 7% higher than '06/07. However, while home-grown wheat used for milling showed only a slight increase of 41,000t on the previous season, significantly more wheat was imported in '07/08. A total of 1.2Mt of imported wheat was used by millers last season, which was 0.34Mt up on '06/07 and the highest amount since 1993/94. This reflects the lower '07 UK wheat crop and the just average quality.
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Crop prospects in Southern Hemisphere
Wheat crop prospects are being severely affected by a continuing drought in Argentina that is likely to have a negative impact on final production levels. The planting campaign ended in August with wheat being planted on 4.48Mha (18.5% less than '07). The USDA forecasts wheat output at 12.5Mt in '08/09, down from 16.5Mt last year.
Some scattered showers across the wheat belt in Australia last week were beneficial to winter grain growth but the area still remains relatively dry. ABARE has revised downwards total wheat production in '08/09 by 1.22Mt from their previous estimate made in June. However, this is still nearly 10Mt more than production in '07/08.
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