A cargo of wheat bound for China loads in August at GrainCorp’s Geelong terminal. Photo: GrainCorp

AUSTRALIA exported wheat 2,189,389 tonnes of wheat in August, down 18 percent from the 2,666,517t shipped in August, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Indonesia on 767,493t was the volume buyer, followed by China on 339,786t and Vietnam on 230,043t.

The August 2023 figure compares with 2,479,399t shipped in August 2022.

Kenya on 43,700t and Malawi on 27,800t show up in bulk shipments, likely an indicator of the difficulty African nations are having in procuring Black Sea grain as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to limit shipping capacity.

Lachstock Consulting’s September Wheat Supply and Demand Report dated September 29,  said Russian export pace was significantly higher than last year, and tender results indicated Russia may be trying to enforce its unofficial “floor price”.

This is expected to make Russian what uncompetitive, losing business to other origins, notably Romania.

“We are also seeing China making some significant purchases of French wheat along with healthy demand for new crop Aussie,” the report said.

“The chatter about India being a big importer this year has gone quiet but they continue to release government stocks into the market to try to ease the inflationary pressure of high wheat prices.

“Llooking at their available stocks, the likelihood of them having to import at some stage looks like the only solution.”

Table 1: Containerised Australian wheat and durum exports for June, July and August 2023. Source: ABS

Table 2: Bulk Australian wheat and durum exports for June, July and August 2023. Source: ABS

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