The Australian wheat harvest is now in full swing, and exporters shipped the last old-crop tonnages in September. Photo: CBH Group

AUSTRALIA exported 450,189 tonnes of wheat in September, up 19 per cent from 378,222t shipped in August, according to the latest export data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Japan on 62,848t was the biggest market for total September wheat shipments, just ahead of Papua New Guinea on 62,799t, followed by South Korea on 47,296t.

In the containerised market, Fiji on 14,314t, The Philippines on 8285t and Thailand on 7970t were the three biggest customers for September.

“September wheat exports mark the end of the 2019-20 season program, and are slightly higher than July and August,” Market Check head of strategy Nick Crundall said.

Mr Crundall said it was not uncommon for September to record a higher volume export month than August, given bulk handlers and exporters are keen to shift remaining old-crop supplies.

“That’s often ahead of a looming inverse, when old-crop prices are higher than the new-crop price, which incentivises them to be a bit more aggressive in executing sales.”

September exports also allow bulk handlers to clean out storages ahead of harvest.

“On the flip side, some of the importers who were buying Aussie wheat this year are pretty inelastic, and September is really the last month to get much Aussie offered before you need to wait until new-crop comes online, so that element also plays into the higher volume.”

Table 1: Australia’s containerised wheat exports for July, August and September 2020. Source: ABS

Table 2: Australia’s bulk wheat exports for July, August and September 2020. Source: ABS