After the pre-Christmas rains farmers were finally able to get back to harvesting in the new year. In South Australia most were able to finish except in the South-East, which is traditionally a later area. There was some damage to Faba Bean crops with staining which meant downgrading to a #2. Broad Beans quality so far has been good for the crops harvested prior to the last rain event but later crops being harvested now are affected by water staining.
However in Victoria farmers were not so fortunate with some major “dumps” of rain over 120mm throughout the Wimmera and Mallee which stopped harvest and ruined the remaining un-harvested crops. The most affected were Kabuli Chickpeas and small Broad Beans. The end result of this rain has been widespread flooding in towns including Horsham and several others cutting roads and flooding houses.
Also movements of grain by road and rail have also been severely frustrated causing delays to traders shipping programs.
Farmer selling has also been very minimal and prices for lentils have firmed around US$50 over the last week as appears some traders are trying to cover nearby positions.
Interest for Faba Beans has also remained firm with traders finding it hard to accumulate any significant tonnage especially #1 which are cureently being offered at US$415 FOB.
The main focus has been on the situation in Queensland, which has been very dramatic. It will be some time before the final impact of the floods on the crops can be assessed.
