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.