Markets

Australia ships 599,767t May barley, 452,182t sorghum

Liz Wells July 17, 2023

Early-sown barley off to a great start in the Lalbert district of north-west Victoria. Photo: Pat Conlan, Elders Swan Hill

AUSTRALIA exported 599,767 tonnes of barley and 452,182t of sorghum in May, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Barley comprised 535,102t of feed and 64,665t of malting.

The feed barley figure is up 14 percent from the 469,640t shipped in April, while the malting figure of 64,665t is down 48pc from the April total of 123,223t.

Sorghum had a huge month, with 452,182t shipped in May, up 25pc from the 361,058t exported in April.

The three largest-volume feed barley markets were Saudi Arabia on 126,325t, Japan on 105,203t, while China on 445,641t accounted for 99pc of sorghum exports.

The major malting markets for May-shipped barley were Vietnam on 34,803t, Peru on 17,941t and Ecuador on 5000t.

Flexi Grain pool manager Sam Roache said feed barley exports have continued at a consistent pace.

“Overall, the commodity-switchable Asian feed demand for barley is trending weaker as we continue to see Brazilian corn and Black Sea feed wheat compete well on price with Australian barley and low-grade wheat,” Mr Roache said.

“The less-switchable Middle Eastern demand for barley is continuing to support shipments, but we have noted very poor demand for barley into Middle East, especially Saudi, for the past few months.

“This is a flag that we will see Middle Eastern barley demand drop into the back end of the year, with shipments from Australia likely to be heavily affected.

“This is due to very competitive pricing from Russia, which is currently offering barley at A$50-$60/t equivalent cheaper than the Australian market.”

Hopes are high that the Chinese market may reopen to Australian barley.

“China is needing an extra month to finish its review of the Australian tariffs, and has called for submissions today.

“That makes August 11 a very important date for Australian barley growers.

“This extension may seem like bad news, but the underlying narrative continues to be positive and the Chinese have openly acknowledged that the tariffs do not have a positive overall effect for them.

“We continue to expect a positive outcome for China trade.”

Malting barley exports have have shrunk month on month to reflect the normal slowdown in the program ex Australia as stocks drop and demand switches to Northern Hemisphere new crop.

“So far, European yields and quality are disappointing versus expectation due to the tough finish across Europe.

“We expect malting demand to remain buoyant longer term, and we will see this flow into Australian shipments into the new-crop period.

On sorghum, May shipments were the highest monthly figure seen for some years.

“This reflects the better crop, and very strong Chinese demand, and is a pointer to the excellent export margins that sorghum has been providing.

“We will likely see another big month in June, but expect things to slow considerably in July and August.”

Prices for sorghum into China have trended lower in recent months on competition from other grains including US sorghum.

FEED Mar Apr May Tonnes
Hong Kong 0 0 12 12
Italy 0 6 0 6
Japan 35338 91644 105203 232184
Jordan 13500 62073 75573
Kuwait 28592 50235 0 78828
Macau 0 5 0 5
Malaysia 163 0 165 329
New Caledonia 641 0 0 641
Oman 20892 20704 0 41596
Papua New Guinea 0 50 0 50
Philippines 59720 1016 1754 62490
Qatar 52500 52500 105000
Saudi Arabia 285171 42549 126325 454044
Singapore 2 2 1 6
South Korea 1082 510 2032 3624
Taiwan 1489 492 924 2905
Thailand 19787 91570 67323 178680
UAE 34680 49226 27000 110906
Vietnam 82358 121630 89791 293779
TOTAL 635917 469640 535102 1640659

Table 1: Australian feed barley exports for March, April and May 2023. Source: ABS

MALTING Mar Apr May Tonnes
Ecuador 6000 0 5000 11000
Japan 21000 20612 0 41612
Mexico 31733 99000 0 130733
Peru 16943 0 17941 34884
Philippines 0 286 1727 2013
Singapore 880 2595 4116 7590
South Africa 15000 0 0 15000
South Korea 13263 0 0 13263
Thailand 1826 0 1078 2903
Vietnam 32615 731 34803 68149
TOTAL 139260 123223 64665 327148

Table 2: Australian malting barley exports for March, April and May 2023. Source: ABS

SORGHUM Mar Apr May Tonnes
China 209147 300322 445641 955109
Japan 14360 24297 0 38657
Kenya 0 31050 0 31050
New Zealand 2 0 0 2
Philippines 3253 881 1681 5815
South Korea 0 48 0 48
Taiwan 4454 4387 4684 13525
Vietnam 0 74 176 250
TOTAL 231216 361058 452182 1044456

Table 3: Australian sorghum exports for March, April and May 2023. Source: ABS

 

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