Worldwide, grain prices have rocketed. US exports are currently on the high end of expectations at 23 million bushels, Bob Hoff, of Aginfo, has speculated that this is probably due to Russia’s continuing export ban and concerns over Australia’s wheat quality.

In Australia heavy rains throughout the last month have raised the risk of mould contamination. Amid these latest fears, scientists from GrainCorp revealed last week that they had found levels of vomitoxin at ten times the accepted prevalence in samples of Australian wheat; vomitoxin can sicken livestock and as such contaminated yields are sometimes inadmissible as feed.

Macquarie of London have said that due to the extent of the wet weather in Australia, more contamination was likely. These wet conditions reduce the quality of the crop being harvested, increasing the scarcity of Australian wheat. Australia & New Zealand bank, among others, has already warned that more than half the national crop could be downgraded to feed.

Despite the fact that harvests are up to four weeks behind schedule in some places, Agriculture Minister Michael O'Brien remains confident that the effects may not be so severe, and that the state wide crop of over 9 million tonnes will be largely unaffected.

Mr O’Brien today said that "The volume of grain that's going to be harvested is extremely high and there will be downgrades but it's a little patchy, it varies from area to area."

In a mirror of the concern over Australian wheat, bean prices were rising from the 19^th December in the US after fears of dryness in soybean producing areas in Argentina. A spokesperson for brokers E Hedger LLC has said that markets could see high volatility on low volume up until Christmas eve.