AUSTRALIA exported 5.78 million tonnes (Mt) of wheat in the first half of 2020, with China on 1.2Mt the biggest customer, according to the latest export figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

South Korea on 644,063t, Vietnam on 499,559t, Indonesia on 486,357t, Japan on 429,926t and The Philippines on 411,896t were the other major volume buyers, .

In the month of June, China on 237,308t, South Korea on 171,485t and Japan on 107,409t were the only destinations to take six-figure bulk tonnages.

Bulk wheat exports in June totalled 937,316t, up 37 per cent from the May total of 685,409t, while boxed exports climbed 33pc in June to 103,369t from 77,442t in May.

Australian wheat exports are expected to drop sharply from July until new-crop volume gathers pace in November, and as Asian and Middle East customers turn to Europe and the Black Sea for competitively priced grain from the northern hemisphere’s new crop.

Table 1: Australian containerised wheat exports from January to June 2020. Source: ABS

Table 2: Australian bulk wheat exports from January to June 2020. Source: ABS