Australian farmers pressured by South-east Asia's wheat demands

Singapore

WHEAT farmers in Australia, the world's fourth-biggest shipper, will face an increasing challenge keeping up with their neighbours' appetite for bread and noodles.

Demand from Indonesia, the Philippines and three other South-east Asian nations is set to jump 40 per cent to 13.2 million tonnes by 2020, said Greg Harvey, CEO of Interflour Group Pte. That may outpace the ability of Australia to supply the variety used in soft bread and noodles, he said in an interview in Singapore.

Faster growth and an expanding population are boosting consumption of everything from wheat and sugar to cooking oils in the region, which has more people than the European Union. Indonesia will become the world's second-largest wheat importer this year and has overtaken India as the top user of palm oil, the US government estimates. The US, Canada and Russia could fill any shortages in Australian supply,…