AWB CHAIRMAN URGES FARMERS NOT TO CUT PLANTINGS Australia could lose valuable wheat markets through lack of availability if plantings for the coming 1987/88 season are significantly reduced, Australian Wheat Board (AWB) chairman Clinton Condon said. "If predictions of a 30 pct decrease in plantings prove true, Australia may not be able to supply wheat to some of its valuable markets," he said in a statement. Condon did not say who had made the predictions, but an AWB spokesman said there was a general industry feeling that farmers, hard hit by low prices and rising costs, could cut back plantings sharply. Wheat sowing normally begins in May. However, Condon said he did not believe plantings would be cut by as much as 30 pct although he realised many farmers were facing enormous financial pressures. He said the AWB expects the area sown to be about 10.7 mln hectares, down from 11.3 mln in 1986/87 when the crop was about 16 mln tonnes. Final crop estimates for 1986/87 and planting intentions for 1987/88 are not yet available. If the AWB is unable, because of a short-term cut in plantings, to meet the needs of the markets it has developed with much time and effort, it may have great difficulty selling wheat to those markets in the future, Condon said. "Markets which rely on a steady supply of Australian wheat understand a decrease in production due to drought but they will have difficulty understanding a deliberate decision to decrease production," Condon said. "If Australia wants wheat to continue as a major export income earner, governments and government authorities will need to closely examine ways of contributing to the continuing viability of the wheat industry," he added. Australia's leading wheat markets include China, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, the Soviet Union and Japan.