Qatar's Hassad to start grain, wool exports from Australia 

(MENAFN) Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) said it will start exports of grains and wool from Australia as it nears completion of aUSD486 million farm investment plan, Bloomberg reported.

Hassad Food Co, the agricultural investment arm of the Qatari sovereign wealth fund, is concentrating efforts on commercial production from food security and is unlikely to buy new properties when it reaches its purchase goal within a year, according to Tom McKeon, CEO of Hassad Australia.

The Australian operation's most recent purchases include a 40,000 hectare property in Telopea Downs in Victoria state, and 31,500 hectares of farmland in three locations in Western Australia this year, to boost supplies of sheep, wheat and barley, McKeon said.

Hassad Chairman Nasser Al-Hajri said the company may invest USD618 million around the world this year.

In April, Hussain al-Abdulla, a board member at QIA, said that Qatar, which imports 90 percent of its food, invested USD2 billion in 2011.

The company started wheat and animal feed production in Sudan in 2009, and announced plans to buy Turkish farmland last year.