TORRENTIAL rain in China's breadbasket through central provinces such as Henan could have a big impact on the nation's wheat production.
The falls fell just as wheat was due to be harvested and potentially could cause significant quality downgrades across a massive tonnage of crops.
Wire reports have indicated up to 30 million tonnes of wheat have been impacted and up to 20 million tonnes of wheat could be relegated to feed quality and would not be able to be milled.
Such a downgrade would have major implications in one of the world's largest wheat using nations and could have a flow-on effect to the broader global wheat market.
READ MORE:
China has a notoriously poor reputation in regards to the supply and demand data it produces with grain analysts placing little trust in official figures, however the trade will be closely monitoring purchasing trends over coming months.
Much of China suffered from excessive rainfall earlier this month, following an unseasonably wet May.
There are reports that ripe wheat has either been hit by fungal blights, which may render it unusable in any form, or sprouted, which would leave it useful for feed purposes only.
Andrew Whitelaw, Episode 3 commodity analyst said should the alleged loss of 20 million tonnes be accurate it would leave the Chinese wheat crop the lowest since 2011, which, given the ongoing Ukraine conflict would place further strain on global stocks.
Mr Whitelaw said China had been importing more wheat in recent years and if the news regarding floods was accurate that figure could be pushed up further again.
So far, the grain market has made modest gains on the back of the news, with the benchmark Chicago Board of Trade near wheat futures contract sitting at US641 cents a bushel, up around US30c/bu, or 5 per cent, in the past week.