AUSTRALIA exported 738,559 tonnes of barley and 136,816t of sorghum in March, according to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Despite a lift in malting barley exports to 121,862t in March, the overall barley figure is down 11 per cent from 831,135t shipped in February due to reduced feed exports.

Cargoes to Vietnam, Mexico, Peru and Japan made up the bulk of the March malting figure, while on feed barley, Saudi Arabia on 412,175t accounted for almost half the reported tonnage.

Based on trade information, February shipments of barley to Canada and The Netherlands reported by ABS as feed have been transferred to malting.

On sorghum, China accounted for 97pc of March exports, which were up 110pc on February.

Bumper month for Saudi

Flexi Grain pool manager Sam Roache said the drop over the month in feed barley shipments of around 100,000t has mostly come from reduced sales to Japan and Jordan.

“They were both coming off very large Jan-Feb purchases.

“The Philippines was also notably lower, with the drop in barley imports expected and due to the large and cheaper relative feed wheat available from Australia.

“We expect Japan and Jordan to re-emerge and The Philippines, along with Thailand and Vietnam, to decline to minimal barley use and imports.”

On the other side of the ledger, March was a bumper month for feed barley exports to Saudi Arabia.

“Competition from the Black Sea really dropped away, and the task was completely left to Australia.

“We expect Australia’s dominance into Saudi to continue.

“Another notable is Iran, where we see our second cargo in 12 months, in line with long reported business.”

Overall export pace of feed barley is seen as strong, and Mr Roache estimates Australia is around halfway through its expected export program for 2021-22 (Oct-Sep).

“Global prices are higher straight out to new crop, and export margins are excellent.

“Demand for Australian barley remains good, with sales on all the way out to October already.

“We expect the program to remain strong right through to next harvest.”

Western Australia and New South Wales are carrying feed barley stocks, and are expected to export in this shipping year’s latter months.

“Victoria and South Australia are already tight, and should slow down quickly on exports post June-July.”

Malting exports steady

March malting barley exports were up slightly from February.

“Sales to the usual Japanese, Peruvian and Vietnamese homes saw a strong month.

“The unusual Canadian and Netherlands shipments we saw in February have not repeated, and could be a one-off due to the Canadian drought and quality problems, and the French malting shortage driven by Chinese demand.

“Malting premiums remain good and demand is there.

“Malting is tight in most zones and, like feed, should have a very good demand profile straight out to next harvest.”

New-crop sorghum arrives

Sorghum volumes ramped up in March as expected, with more harvest equalling more exports, and the Central Queensland (CQ) harvest to support later months.

“We should see April and May exports strong, and expect growth right through April to July as CQ production comes on line.”

Demand from China looks solid.

“We will likely add Japan as an export buyer further into the program too.

“We are seeing some new export capacity added in Brisbane, which is excellent for the market, and should allow traders and growers to capitalise on the excellent demand and export margins for all products.”

MALTING	Oct-Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Jan-Mar	Oct-Mar
Canada*	0	0	33000	0	33000	33000
Ecuador	0	0	0	6000	6000	6000
Ethiopia	50776	0	0	0	0	50776
Indonesia	510	0	0	0	0	510
Japan	1500	750	250	20000	21000	22500
Mexico	33000	33000	30299	33000	96299	129299
Netherlands*	0	0	41749	0	41749	41749
Peru	19436	0	0	21500	21500	40936
Philippines	1067	220	1744	1371	3335	4402
Singapore	7442	2392	3471	5616	11479	18921
Thailand	2882	3704	2040	285	6029	8911
Vietnam	1876	33381	423	34090	67894	69770
TOTAL	118489	73447	112976	121862	308285	426774

Table 1: Australian malting barley exports from October 2021 to March 2022. * Figures appear in ABS data as feed barley. Source: ABS and trade

FEED	Oct-Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Jan-Mar	Oct-Mar
Ecuador	7100	0	0	0	0	7100
Hong Kong	12	12	0	0	12	24
India	435	495	0	0	495	930
Iran	0	0	0	33533	33533	33533
Japan	137715	0	169828	0	169828	307543
Jordan	0	126000	134000	63000	323000	323000
Kuwait	40500	40500	45484	33000	118984	159484
Macau	1	0	0	0	0	1
Malaysia	529	0	224	1218	1442	1971
Myanmar	0	0	242	0	242	242
New Caledonia	799	192	194	86	472	1271
New Zealand	0	5000	0	0	5000	5000
Oman	10000	0	0	0	0	10000
Papua New Guinea	200	0	25	0	25	225
Philippines	162342	11258	117099	22540	150897	313239
Qatar	50000	57000	0	19800	76800	126800
Saudi Arabia	452189	229105	192000	412175	833280	1285469
Singapore	799	608	0	596	1204	2003
South Korea	1405	872	1445	400	2717	4122
Spain	4	0	0	0	0	4
Taiwan	5464	4757	5033	3666	13456	18920
Thailand	0	0	22421	9772	32193	32193
UAE	29930	57829	19950	8000	85779	115709
Vietnam	62484	12328	10214	8911	31453	93937
TOTAL	961908	545956	718159	616697	1880812	2842720

Table 2: Australian feed barley exports from October 2021 to March 2022. Based on trade information, Feb shipments to Canada and The Netherlands have been transferred to feed. Source: ABS and trade

SORGHUM	Oct-Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Jan-Mar	Oct-Mar
China	342329	21957	62564	132616	217137	559466
Japan	44190	64	73	573	710	44900
Malaysia	24	0	0	0	0	24
Philippines	3118	1480	1422	2043	4945	8063
South Korea	48	0	0	86	86	134
Taiwan	5504	393	925	1448	2766	8270
Vietnam	0	0	0	50	50	50
TOTAL	395213	23894	64984	136816	225694	620907

Table 3: Australian sorghum exports from October 2021 to March 2022. Source: ABS

 

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