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Australia ships 777,823t barley, 255,066t March sorghum

Liz Wells, May 10, 2023

Central Queensland growers Gordon and Rohan Staal with their crop of sorghum. Photo: Pioneer Seeds – Australia

AUSTRALIA exported 777,823 tonnes of barley and 255,066t of sorghum in March, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Feed barley shipments for the month totaled 636,233t, down 30 percent from the 911,105t exported in February.

The three largest markets for March-shipped feed barley were Saudi Arabia on 285,171t, Vietnam on 82,358t and The Philippines on 60,036t.

March malting barley exports at 141,590t more than tripled from the February figure of 41,278t, with  Vietnam on 32,615t followed by Mexico on 31,733t and Japan on 21,000t the largest markets.

Sorghum shipments surged to reflect new-crop availability, with the March total of 255,066t being almost five times the 53,117t exported in February.

China on 232,996t accounted for 91pc of March sorghum exports, with Japan on 14,360t and Taiwan on 4454t the second and third-biggest markets respectively for the month.

Flexi Grain pool manager Sam Roache said feed barley shipments continued strongly, below last month’s huge total but still in line with pace required to meet an expected shipment total of around 8 million tonnes in the year to September.

“Year on year we sit similarly with around the same amount shipped year to date at around over 4Mt,” Mr Roache said.

“Demand was softer into most homes bar Saudi Arabia, which was unchanged versus February shipments.”

On malting barley, Mr Roache said the jump in March exports shows malting demand outside China is strong and likely to continue as such in coming months.

“Australia is on track to be exhausting its malting stocks in the next few months to current export destinations.

“If you consider China demand on top of this the opportunities will likely be very positive.

“China remains key for barley and, despite some quelling of initial excitement on the subject, we remain positive.

“The information we see remains supportive of tariff reductions and opening of new business in the next few months, which will support feed and malt barley demand into the last half of the season.”

On sorghum, Mr Roache said the surge in volume in March reflects the depth of demand in China, and healthy export margins for the red grain.

“With a good crop coming in, we expect a big sorghum export program for the rest of the year.

“The wheat program is slowing due to lower stocks, and lower export margins in New South Wales will only add to export capacity and logistics being allocated to sorghum.

“That should further support the export volumes.”

Harvesting of sorghum is close to finished for the season in southern Queensland and NSW, and is about to get under way in earnest in Central Queensland.

FEED Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Tonnes
Hong Kong 0 21 0 12 12 0 45
Iran 0 0 64305 0 0 64305
Japan 100013 30570 178339 32717 149205 35338 526182
Jordan 0 62788 0 91280 82500 13500 250068
Kuwait 42199 41896 41526 76683 28592 230897
Malaysia 189 0 0 192 0 163 545
New Caledonia 318 394 605 266 303 641 2528
New Zealand 0 0 9113 0 0 0 9113
Oman 0 0 19269 0 0 20892 40161
Papua New Guinea 0 50 50 0 0 0 100
Philippines 165 22 25937 56332 79278 60036 221769
Qatar 55125 55125 60500 0 0 52500 223250
Saudi Arabia 0 263606 534716 115219 277500 285171 1476211
Singapore 0 4 0 0 2 2 8
South Korea 921 12654 34030 950 677 1082 50314
Taiwan 1962 547 7350 1200 1107 1489 13656
Thailand 21 772 1248 51600 129379 19787 202806
UAE 0 0 52230 24474 5035 34680 116418
Vietnam 3320 2130 30708 1063 109423 82358 229004
TOTAL 162034 470880 1060295 416832 911105 636233 3657380

Table 1: Australian feed barley exports from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023. Source: ABS

MALTING Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Tonnes
Ecuador 0 6000 0 0 0 6000 12000
Japan 28750 0 0 0 0 21000 49750
Mexico 33002 30000 0 33000 30000 31733 157735
New Zealand 0 0 0 1193 1596 0 2789
Peru 0 16985 0 0 0 16943 33928
Philippines 1747 1247 1660 650 1070 0 6374
Singapore 4045 4781 4883 5536 2758 880 22882
South Africa 15000 15000 15000 0 0 15000 60000
South Korea 0 0 0 10364 660 13263 24287
Thailand 2112 865 0 987 440 4156 8559
Vietnam 0 29743 436 3317 4756 32615 70867
TOTAL 84655 104622 21979 55048 41278 141590 449172

Table 2: Australian malting barley exports from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023. Source: ABS

SORGHUM Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Tonnes
China 252721 100005 42761 13547 49552 232996 691583
Japan 42 0 0 31564 65 14360 46031
New Caledonia 0 198 0 0 0 0 198
New Zealand 0 0 0 0 0 2 2
Philippines 1477 1068 1144 904 1100 3253 8946
South Korea 0 0 65 50 0 0 115
Taiwan 4546 5219 874 374 2301 4454 17768
Vietnam 474 201 0 0 100 0 775
TOTAL 259260 106691 44844 46439 53117 255066 765418

Table 3: Australian sorghum exports from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023. Source: ABS

 

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