Markets

Australia exports 1,596,844t wheat in May

Liz Wells July 8, 2024

AUSTRALIA exported 1,596,844 tonnes of wheat and no durum in May, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The May total is down 14 percent from the 1,848,534t, including 3801t of durum, shipped in April, and close to half the 3.3 million tonnes (Mt) exported in May 2023.

In containerised exports, Malaysia on 34,814t, Taiwan on 23,035t and Thailand on 21,815t were the three largest markets.

In bulk, The Philippines on 314,857t followed by Indonesia on 244,111t and South Korea on 164,780t were the biggest markets for May-shipped wheat, followed by Yemen on 155,901t.

According to Lachstock Consulting’s most recent wheat supply-and-demand report released June 28, Australia is expected to export less than 1Mt of wheat in June, which would be the lowest monthly volume since November 2020.

Australia’s bulk wheat exports to China have trended down sharply in recent months, with the May total at 116,285t less than one quarter of the 516,295t shipped in April.

This indicates China’s switch to new-crop Northern Hemisphere grain, including its own.

“The screws keep tightening on the major exporters’ balance sheets, with the USDA cutting Russian production by 5Mt in June and Ukraine and EU by 1.5Mt each,” the Lachstock report said.

“The USDA offset the production cuts by lowering global feed use by over 4Mt,.

“Global ending stocks were lowered by a further 1.3Mt to 252.3Mt, the lowest ending-stocks number since 2014-15, and when you exclude China, you get the lowest ending stocks since 2007-08.”

The size of the Russian crop has been hotly debated and after the initial panic over the dry spring and a number of frost events resulting in up to 10Mt in production cuts, some estimates are now being revised back up.

“The range is wide, with estimates anywhere from 75Mt to 85Mt.

“We are unlikely to know the true size of the crop until we get through the 2024-25 export program.”

Lachstock referenced Russian offers in the latest GASC tender to supply Egypt were US$38/t lower than the previous tender, suggesting Russia has “plenty of grain to move”.

Lachstock

BOXED Mar Apr May Tonnes
China 36968 28344 19724 85036
Fiji 196 0 0 196
Hong Kong 249 271 0 520
India 5337 1965 1045 8348
Indonesia 55748 13863 14838 84449
Japan 0 550 2483 3033
Kenya 0 510 496 1007
Malaysia 25358 19490 34814 79661
Myanmar 542 0 0 542
New Caledonia 2292 2325 2295 6912
New Zealand 1031 2980 2492 6502
Papua New Guinea 1211 0 398 1609
Philippines 23736 17266 19333 60335
Saudi Arabia 545 0 0 545
Singapore 0 650 0 650
Solomon Islands 1476 501 1288 3264
South Korea 160 4661 5185 10006
Sri Lanka 1796 125 0 1921
Taiwan 25273 19392 23035 67700
Tanzania 584 0 0 584
Thailand 21430 25321 21815 68566
UAE 996 223 0 1219
UK 1632 299 1437 3368
Vietnam 24258 20230 13367 57855
TOTAL 230818 158965 164046 553829

Table 1: Australian containerised wheat exports for March, April and May 2024. Source: ABS

BULK Mar Apr May Tonnes
Bahrain 27500 0 27500 55000
Bangladesh 0 101 0 101
China 703355 516595 116285 1336235
Fiji 32041 12000 0 44041
Indonesia 352230 139141 244111 735482
Iraq 36192 0 0 36192
Japan 40448 125053 103234 268735
Kenya 0 49130 0 49130
Kuwait 30418 41806 36276 108500
Malaysia 56119 69730 32000 157849
Mauritius 0 18000 0 18000
Myanmar 25000 28234 0 53234
New Zealand 27220 61404 114198 202823
Oman 0 55000 0 55000
Papua New Guinea 28000 21220 0 49220
Philippines 109669 116030 314857 540556
Qatar 41970 0 0 41970
Singapore 0 0 20900 20900
South Africa 0 92400 0 92400
South Korea 161590 0 164780 326370
Sri Lanka 0 32102 0 32102
Taiwan 233 0 0 233
Thailand 60653 23567 24200 108420
United Arab Emirates 50635 65284 19800 135719
Vietnam 153507 35070 58756 247332
Yemen 343698 183900 155901 683498
DURUM
Algeria 21999 0 0 21999
China 0 3801 0 3801
Italy 33123 0 0 33123
Philippines 497 0 0 497
TOTAL 2336096 1689569 1432798 5458462

Table 1: Australian bulk wheat exports for March, April and May 2024. Source: ABS

 

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