A vessel loads at Port Giles in December to add to the month’s grain export figures. Photo: Viterra

AUSTRALIA exported 2,472,624 tonnes of wheat in December, almost five times the 504,931t shipped in November, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The biggest bulk customer by far was China on 782,499t, followed by Vietnam on 278,139t and Indonesia on 256,488t.

In the boxed market, Vietnam on 49,038t, Egypt on 36,942 including 750t of durum, and China on 29,758t bought the biggest volume.

“Wheat exports for December were always going to be a big step up from previous months as the market had new-crop volume available to ship,” Market Check head of strategy Nick Crundall said.

“The total was just a whisker behind the all-time record set in May 2017, and shows just how hard we are pushing the supply chain to maximise the export opportunities this season.”

Mr Crundall said  the China business exported in December was booked prior to the substantial decline in Australia-China relations.

“This sort of volume will not be repeated this season, as exporters have been nervous to sell additional business into China due to the policy risk and big demand from other less risky customers.”

Mr Crundall said December’s container volumes were a solid result given the issues container exporters have had with logistics.

“Hopefully over time volumes can continue to increase as these issues are ironed out.”

Table 1: Australian monthly bulk wheat exports from July to December 2020. Source: ABS

Table 2: Australian monthly containerised wheat exports from July to December 2020. Source: ABS

Table 3: Australian monthly containerised durum exports from July to December 2020. Source: ABS