February 23, 2004

 

 

Australia Grain Exports Largely Unaffected By Bird Flu

 

Australia's grain exports to Asia has largely been unaffected by the bird fly crisis, but prices of smaller lupins crop fell slightly.

 

After snapping up one million tonnes of Australian milling wheat in December, China bought beer-making malting barley in the past week, east coast exporter GrainCorp Ltd said.

 

Australia's main bulk barley exporter ABB Grain Ltd also said on Friday sales of new crop barley had been strong in a steady market.

 

Sorghum is also in demand in Japan for cattle feed, traditionally its biggest export market.

 

"There is good Japanese demand for May/June/July (sorghum) yet to be filled, which puts Australia in the box seat," grains broker FarMarCo said in a market report.

 

The broker expects a sorghum exportable surplus of 200,000 to 300,000 tonnes from the big new crop of 2.1 million.

 

This would leave the potential fallout in the Australian grains trade limited to the lupins crop, where the slaughter of millions of birds in Asia has reduced feed demand.

 

Prices of lupins, a member of the pea family, are sliding as large amounts of soymeal and soybeans in East Asia move from chicken feed to cattle feed markets, where most Australian lupins are consumed.

 

This sent export pool prices of Australian lupins, a A$250 million (US$197 million) export trade, falling in the past week by A$5 to around A$220.

 

INDIA TRADE BLOCK

 

Exports of Australian pulses, which include chickpeas, field peas, beans and legumes as well as lupins, had also been "seriously curtailed" by India imposing strict import phytosanitary regulations, GrainCorp said this week.

 

India is a major market for Australian pulses to make dahl, and is the biggest pulses importer in the world.

 

But for the biggest crops of wheat, barley and sorghum, solid supply and big export tonnages are the main factors in quiet Australian domestic grains markets.

 

Record quantities of winter wheat and barley are already in silos from a just-completed harvest, while large amounts of sorghum are beginning to be harvested from the summer crop.

 

This is holding sorghum cash prices down.

 

(US$1=A$1.27)