Like all of Australia’s major bulk handlers, GrainCorp is shipping wheat to China  as a major destination this year. Photo: Max Anderson, GrainCorp Gladstone

AUSTRALIA exported 2,633,809 tonnes of wheat in April, up 3 per cent from the March total of 2,563,899t, according to the latest export data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

China was the biggest market by far for April shipments, and was the destination for 758,915t of bulk and 2375t of containerised wheat.

Exports to China in April look like they have hit a new monthly high to surpass the January total of 687,033t.

Vietnam on 94,166t was the biggest destination for containerised grain, and with 245,754t of bulk also, bought 339,920t of April-shipped wheat.

Next was The Philippines with 316,810t of bulk and 16,649t of containerised wheat to total 333,459t.

April volume is thought to have risen in part because of less rain-related interruptions to shipments out of the New South Wales ports of Newcastle and Port Kembla, and Brisbane in Queensland.

While cargo numbers out of Port Kembla’s two terminals will be limited until September, when one of its two supplying rail lines is to due to come back into use after a lengthy closure caused by rain-related damage, other Australian ports are shipping at capacity.

According to Lachstock Consulting’s latest Australian Export Vessel Lineups report, shipping stems indicate bulk shipments of 2.54 million tonnes (Mt) of wheat in May and 2.65Mt in June can be expected to appear in upcoming export data.

USDA has estimated Australia’s 2021-22 (Oct-Sep) wheat exports at 27.5Mt, up from 23.85Mt in 2020-21.

Table 1: Australian containerised wheat and durum exportsfor February, March and April 2022. Source: ABS

Table 2: Australian bulk wheat and durum exports for February, March and April 2022. Source: ABS

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