Australia sets barley export record in April, sorghum slides

Loading the Ocean Ersa in Albany in April with 33,115t of barley bound for China. Photo: Commodity Ag

AUSTRALIA exported 1,534,483 tonnes of barley and 341,250t of sorghum in April, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data.

The feed barley component totals 1,319,153 tonnes, and is up 36 percent from 970,851t shipped in March, with China on 1,144,228t the biggest market by far, followed by Yemen on 107,470t, and Japan on 55,195t.

The malting barley component of 215,330t is down 32pc from 317,812t shipped in March, and the top three destinations were China on 166,386t, Vietnam on 36,052t and Japan on 5253t.

April sorghum volume was down 7pc on the month, with China on 335,534t the volume customer, followed by Taiwan on 2853t and The Philippines 2550t.

McDonald Pelz senior broker Sam Roache said April set a monthly record for barley exports by beating the February 2026 figure of 1.51Mt.

“That pace and forward sales and appetite put us on track to beat the previous record season by more than one million tonnes, or 10 percent,” Mr Roache said.

“Chinese demand continues, but buyer appetite and prices have been dropping in the past four weeks, with Chinese feed rice auctions and a significant downgrading to its wheat harvest cooling feed markets.

“Globally, we’re seeing barley values lower by US$5-$10/t in bulk, and more in containers.”

Mr Roache said the Chinese feed wheat event is estimated by the market to total around 10Mt.

“That needs to move into markets in the short term.”

Mr Roache said Australian weather was also encouraging selling after some significant rain.

“Eastern states are rejoining the market, and it’s creating some good liquidity in containers specifically.”

Sorghum exports continued strongly, with similar volumes month on month.

“We expect May to post strong figures before exports start to drift lower into May and June.

“June forward exports will slow right down, driven by strong weather driven pricing at origin, which outpaced Chinese market and buyer levels.

“The Australian market has limited sorghum left to sell, which is well matched by destination, where demand is quite slow and restricted to higher value baijiu buyers for Aussie origin.

“This is due to relatively high price vs other sorghum origins and versus feed-ration alternatives.”

FEED	Feb	Mar	Apr	Tonnes
China	898972	761697	1144228	2804897
Indonesia	0	127	0	127
Japan	0	0	55195	55195
Kuwait	33334	0	0	33334
Malaysia	350	161	369	880
Mexico	33000	0	0	33000
New Caledonia	197	321	197	715
Pakistan	663	0	0	663
Papua New Guinea	0	25	0	25
Philippines	814	744	1196	2754
Qatar	22050	22050	0	44100
Saudi Arabia	98666	112177	0	210842
South Korea	746	1189	1077	3012
Taiwan	2211	1997	3949	8158
Thailand	3089	3620	3248	9957
UAE	38450	10512	0	48962
Vietnam	4173	3607	2224	10003
Yemen	0	52625	107470	160095
TOTAL	1136715	970851	1319153	3426719

Table 1: Australian feed barley exports for February, March and April 2026. Source: ABS

MALTING	Feb	Mar	Apr	Tonnes
China	322105	268701	166386	757192
Ecuador	0	6000	0	6000
Japan	6240	0	5253	11493
Peru	0	22000	0	22000
Philippines	1024	457	762	2242
Singapore	4402	3038	4710	12150
South Korea	463	13680	557	14700
Thailand	448	894	1609	2951
Vietnam	35587	3043	36052	74682
TOTAL	370268	317812	215330	903409

Table 2: Australian malting barley exports for February, March and April 2026. Source: ABS

SORGHUM	Feb	Mar	Apr	Tonnes
China	181188	357418	335534	874139
Japan	22	22	43	86
Philippines	1499	2418	2550	6467
South Korea	0	146	220	366
Taiwan	2503	5319	2853	10675
Vietnam	150	50	50	250
TOTAL	185361	365372	341250	891983

Table 3: Australian sorghum exports for February, March and April 2026. Source: ABS

Grain Central: Get our free news straight to your inbox – Click here

Markets

Australia sets barley export record in April, sorghum slides

HAVE YOUR SAY Cancel Reply

Comments