Minor Changes in Aussie Pool Outlook

SYDNEY - Feb 3/03 - SNS -- The Australian Wheat Board (AWB) left its pool return outlooks for the 2002-03 marketing year unchanged for all primary pay grades unchanged this week, with only minor changes to base rates, and an adjustment to the protein scales to reflect the quality make-up of the 2002-03 harvest.

Estimated Pool Returns (EPRs) for benchmark grades of APW and ASW have not been changed, with 2002-03 APW remaining at $265 per metric ton (MT) (FOB, GST exclusive). AWB has reduced the estimates ASWN and ASF1 (soft) by $2 MT, with ASWN now at $290 MT (FOB, GST exclusive).

General Manager AWB National Pool Sarah Scales said the market had remained volatile during the past two weeks, although had stopped what had previously been a steep fall from its highs last year.

"AWB National Pool has insulated the impact of what has been an aggressive drop in US futures, but given that we have relatively small volumes in the 2002-03 National Pool, those EPRs will remain more sensitive to any change in the market environment than they would with a larger Pool," Scales said.

The subscriber version of the article is available by Clicking here