April 5, 2012

 

Australia sees bumper wheat exports this season

Despite some concerns over the quality of the crop, Australian wheat exports have recorded their best month since 2003, supporting expectations of bumper shipments this season.

 

The southern hemisphere's top wheat exporter shipped 2.4 million tonnes of the grain in February, "which was the largest amount of wheat exported in the last nine years", the Australian Bureau of Statistics said.

 

The figure, which fulfilled expectations of bumper shipments reported by Agrimoney.com last month, represented a rise of 13.3% on the January result, and 32% on year.

 

And it took the total exported so far in the 2011-12 crop year, which in Australia begins in October, to 9.52 million tonnes, keeping them on track for a record over the season.

 

Australia's official commodities bureau, Abares, has forecast 2011-12 shipments hitting an all-time high of 21.2 million tonnes. The bumper shipments defy concerns over Australian infrastructure stated by a number of commentators.

 

Commonwealth Bank of Australia analyst Luke Mathews on Friday (Mar 30), estimating exports at 21.4 million tonnes this season, said that "capacity constraints are the major impediment preventing an even more substantial export programme".

 

Some importers have also questioned crop quality, with Cargill-owned AWB last week noting "concerns over the weather-affected harvest in parts of the country".

 

Rival grain handler GrainCorp has acknowledged receiving a "higher proportion of mid-protein grain than we would expect to see in an average year".

 

Abares has highlighted that "protein levels in wheat were generally lower than last year in the eastern states mainly because of low soil nitrogen levels following record yields in 2010?1".

 

In South Australia, "low protein has been of some concern, primarily caused by low residual soil nitrogen levels and unfavourable weather at inopportune times that limited application of fertiliser".

 

However, AWB also noted that demand for lower-grade wheat was "very solid", particularly in China, as livestock farmers switched to the grain "due to the higher price of corn".

 

AWB added that it had made "key sales to China, Indonesia, Kuwait, Malaysia, New Zealand and Vietnam of various grades of milling and feed wheat" in recent weeks. China was two weeks ago revealed to have put in a 350,000-tonne order of Australian wheat for June and July shipment, priced at US$280 a tonne including freight.