Australia's wheat sales to RI up

Australia's wheat sales to RI up

SYDNEY (Reuter): The Australian Wheat Board (AWB) said it was
confident of selling a record 2.5 million tons of wheat to
Indonesia by the end of calendar 1997, 400,000 tons more than
last year.

About 1.2 million tons had been sold to Indonesia in the first
half of 1997, said Tim Dewan, AWB regional manager marketing.

The second half of the year, especially the final quarter, was
the heaviest part of the Indonesian buying cycle, Dewan said.

"We've just concluded very positive talks with the Indonesian
buyers and were able to provide assurances on a range of very
important issues including pricing, delivery schedules, quantity
and quality, grading and crop developments," he said.

"This leads us to believe we will set a new record in wheat
sales to Indonesia this year," he said.

The 1997 sales would bring the total amount sold and shipped
to Indonesia to 20 million tons over the last 25 years, he said.

The 1997 level represented 12.5 percent of all Australian
wheat sales in the last 25 years, he said.

Australia is the largest supplier of wheat to Indonesia,
followed by Canada.

"The Indonesians encourage the rivalry between Canada and
Australia, but they come to us because we are able to guarantee
quantity and quality of supply," Dewan said.

Australia's single desk export arrangement meant Indonesia did
not have to "hunt around the world market" and also that it had
to contract with only one Australian seller, he said.

Indonesia was the fastest-growing wheat market in the world,
he said.

Annual consumption had risen to more than 4.0 million tons for
1997 from less than 100,000 tons in 1971/72, he said.

This year's sales would push Indonesia up alongside Iran as
one of the AWB's customers for the year and cements its place as
Australia's most consistent year-in-year-out large wheat buyer,
he said.