Interflour’s plant at Cai Mep is a major user of wheat in Vietnam which was Australia’s biggest bulk wheat market in February. Photo: Interflour

AUSTRALIA exported 803,572 tonnes of wheat in February, down 38 per cent from 1.3 million tonnes (Mt) shipped in January, according to the latest export data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

In bulk markets, Vietnam followed by China and South Korea were the biggest-volume customers, while on containers, Myanmar, Malaysia and Thailand were the biggest customers.

Western Australia and South Australia exported most of the wheat shipped in February.

“ABS February exports came were still a decent volume, considering our reduced exportable surplus this season,” Market Check head of strategy Nick Crundall said.

“WA and SA continue to impress…with Victoria still lagging.

“We should see this transition as WA and SA are fast running out of stock, and Victoria is the last remaining option, and also now the cheapest state in the country.

“In terms of destinations, Vietnam stepped up for 13o,000t, while 114,000 was sent across to China as part of their big buying spree of Aussie wheat this year.

“The Philippines barely bought a cracker in Feb after a strong Jan buying program.”

In its April Grain: World Markets and Trade Report, USDA has lifted its estimate for Australia’s 2019/20 wheat exports to 8.5Mt from 8.2Mt seen last month due to the fast pace of shipments.

On the flipside, USDA has cut its estimate for US wheat exports by 400,000t to 27.1Mt due to slowing shipments.

Table 1: Australia’s bulk wheat exports for December 2018 and January and February 2020. Source: ABS

Table 2: Australia’s containerised wheat exports for December 2018 and January and February 2020. Source: ABS

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