Three oil-rich Arab countries are negotiating with an Australian farmer's co-operative on the possibility of investing approximately $1 billion in the country's wheat industry as part of an effort to guarantee for itself wheat in time of shortages. Proposals by Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates include buying the entire wheat supply of Western Australia.

The Arab countries fear that a repeat of commodity shortages that accompanied soaring prices earlier this year would leave them without enough grains.