But precise damage figures do not exist. Canegrowers general manager Ian Ballantyne said the crop had been "devastated".

Unofficially, industry sources are saying that around million tonnes of sugarcane could have been lost and up to about 200,000 tonnes of raw sugar, the industry sources said.

Before the damage, the Australian Bureau of Agriculture land Resource Economics (Abare) forecast Australia would produce 5.54 million tonnes of raw sugar against 5.57 million tonnes in 1997.

Sugarcane production was forecast at 41.60 million tonnes in 1998, up from 41.06 million tonnes the year before. Queensland was forecast to produce a record 39.1 million tonnes of this.

One industry source said Australia's sugar production from the 1998 crop now would be closer to the fivemillion tonnes mark than to earlier forecasts.

However, the sources said that the loss of around one million tonnes of cane and 200,000 tonnes of raws were maximum figures and that many in the industry believed final losses would be lower.

David Rutledge, Chief executive of the sugar industry's main organisation Queensland Sugar Corp (QSC), told Reuters on Wednesday that the losses were "quite significant".

But he would not put a tonnage figure on losses.

Asked whether they were big enough to affect the world sugar market, he said: "I'd Like it if it did, but in a heavily over-supplied market, the market will form its own view as to the significance of this".

"From our point of view it is potentially quite significant," he said. "There is no doubt at all that heavy rainfall, particularly in the central districts of coastal Queensland, has had a significant impact on the crop."

"There's no doubt at all that our production estimate will fall, but by how much I really couldn't say," he said.

Thisis the second hit Australia's 1998 sugar crop has taken from the weather.

Severely reduced sugar content in the cane, caused by early rain and a lack of cold weather when it was needed, recently caused QSC to cut its forecast of Queensland's sugar production to about 5.20 million tonnes of raws from 5.25 million tonnes forecast earlier.

The rain, which dropped up to 500 mm or 20 inches in some areas and 300 mm in others, had knocked over most of the cane crop North of Mackay, Canegrowers told Reuters.

This area produces well over 50 percent of Australia's sugar cane, with about 80 per cent of cane in this area affected.

Lodged, or fallen, cane could still be harvested, but would contain extraneous matter and reduced sugar content. This meant many growers might decide to leave the cane in the field.

Weekend weather damage had occurred just as CCS, or sugar content figures, had just begun to pick up, Canegrowers said.

"That's what I think it is - La Nina," a Canegrowers official said onWednesday.

La Nina is the opposite weather effect to El Nino.

El Nino brought drought which devastated crops and caused famine in Papua New Guinea and parts of Indonesia last year. La Nina is forecast to bring heavy rain and floods in the Australia/east Asian region of the Pacific.

Queensland's emergency services minister Merri Rose on Wednesday declared Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton and Gladstone natural disaster areas as the unseasonal big wet continued.

The sugar crop had been particularly affected in the Mackay region, she said in a statement.

Canegrowers estimated that the unseasonal deluge had caused severe damage from Mackay North which could cost the industry tens of missions of dollars in lost production and additional costs, she said.