Australia on Tuesday cut its estimate for this year’s wheat crop by 8.8 per cent to 23.7m tonnes after the driest May on record, reviving memories of last year when drought reduced the harvest to just 13m tonnes.

The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics said crops sown in northern Western Australia, the largest wheat-growing state, were beginning to show signs of stress because of the dry weather. Below-average rainfall is forecast to continue in parts of the region.