A cargo of new-crop wheat bound for the UAE loads at Geraldton in WA. Photo: Mid West Ports Authority

AUSTRALIA shipped 367,574 tonnes of wheat in October, down 17 per cent from the 433,055t shipped in September, according to the latest export data from the Australian
Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The October total for both containerised and bulk wheat fell in October from the previous month, despite shipments to South Korea more than doubling to 109,066t.

Regular customers Japan, Kuwait, The Philippine and Indonesia were also bulk buyers of signficance.

Market Check head of strategy Nick Crundall said Australia’s October 2020 wheat exports were the lowest since 2007-08, with carry-out especially tight due to the drought in eastern Australia.

“Western Australia did most of the heavy lifting, with Victoria and South Australia also pushing out some volume,” Mr Crundall said.

The slow start to 2020-21 exports is expected to be reflected in November data also.

“November figures are also expected to be fairly low, given the limited amount of new crop that had hit the bins by then.”

Mr Crundall said December exports would show a huge upswing in volume to reflect new-crop availability.

“January-June shipments also look likely to be pushing up on a few historical volume records.”

Table 1: Australian containerised wheat exports for August, September and October 2020. Source: ABS

Table 2: Australian bulk wheat exports for August, September and October 2020. Source: ABS