THE WORLD’S WHEAT

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1011, 30 June 1930, Page 11

THE WORLD’S WHEAT

AUSTRALIA’S HARVEST RECORD YIELD EXPECTED The Commonwealth Statistician * estimates that the aggregate area under j wheat in the Common-weart 1 m v e cceed 17,000,000 acres this season. “The season.” he said in a recent re- i view, “has opened with good rains in the main wheat belts of the States, and should such favourable conditions j continue it is possible that a record yield will result. The previous record was in respect of the 1915-16 harvest. ! when, as a result of a special w effort. 179.065.703 bushels were reaped from 12,4.84,512 acres. “The quantity of wheat produced in 1 Australia for the pre-war period j amounted to only 2.39 per cent, of the j world’s production as recorded by those ! ting, bul - . 3.52 per cent, during the p< riod 1924-27, while for the individual years it fluctuated between 2.74 per cent, in 1926 and 4.06 per cent, in 1925. This yield is re- j latively, small when compared with cer- ! tain other countries and it is only as i an exporting country that Australia ; assumes any marked significance as a i contributor to the world’s granary. I “During the period 1909-1913, Aus- ! tralia, as an exporter, occupied the j lowest position in the table and contributed only 7.54 per cent., as com- ; pared with Russia 2 8.24 per cent.. Ar- I gentine 16.63 per cent., all other countries 14.64 per cent., Canada 13.52 per | cent., U.S.A. 9.80 per cent., and British India 9.03 per cent. “Com parison between this period and the post-war period reveals a remarkable change in the chief sources of the world’s supply. Australia rose from lowest to fourth position, and provided 11.62 per cent., as compared with Canada 37.43 per cent.. U.S.A. 20.0 S per cent., Argentine 19.92 per cent., all other countries 4.99 per cent., I T .S.S.R. 3.47 per cent., and British India 2.49 per cent. “During the years intervening between the average periods mentioned Canada has risen from fourth place among the exporting countries to first place, and the average quantity exported amounts to more than one-third

•>f the total. The United States oecul pies second place, as compared with j lifth place formerly. Argentine has | dropped from second to third place, i despite the fact that the percentage of i exports during the period rose from I 16.63 per cent, to 19.92 per cent. Aus- I tralia comes next, followed by all other countries, Soviet Republics and British India. “Another notable feature is the marked decline in the position occupied bv the Soviet Republics. During i the pre-war period Russia occupied the i leading position and contributed 2 S per j cent, of the exported wheat, while the average exports during the post-war period amounted to only 3.47 per cent."