The U.S. attache in Australia has lowered its estimate of the country's 2012-13 wheat crop by 2 MMT to 22 MMT. This represents a 26% drop from the previous year, but matches the 10-year average.
The attache says the decline in the wheat crop estimate is primarily due to dry conditions in the eastern states and untimely rainfall in Western Australia. "Quality has also been below-average except in Western Australia where wheat protein levels and barley malting quality has been good," states the attache.
Regarding the current weather pattern, the attache notes: "Rainfall over the first half of the summer has been below-average across most of Australia with drier-than-normal conditions expected to continue until at least March. Record-breaking high temperatures across large areas of Australia have contributed to further evaporation and delayed planting of many summer crops. Record-high national temperatures have been recorded in January including the longest period over 39C (102F). Average temperatures for December and January have been at least 2 degrees higher than average across all major cropping areas. Large bush fires in New South Wales and Victoria have destroyed some cropping areas but the majority of fire damage has been in national parks and forests."
Link to full attache report.