December 8, 2006

Australian government sharply revises stored grain stocks

The government's Bureau of Statistics Friday revised sharply lower its estimate of the volume of grain held in storage facilities operated by Australia's major bulk grain handling companies as of Oct. 31 to 10.5 million tonnes from an estimate Monday of 13.2 million tonnes.

Of the stocks, wheat is now estimated at 7.6 million tonnes, down from 9.8 million tonnes previously, and barley 1.7 million tonnes from 2.2 million tonnes, while others including oats, triticale, sorghum, pulses and oilseeds totaled 1.1 million tonnes from 1.2 million tonnes previously, it reported.

The bureau has not collected this data since December 2004 and found it "quite difficult" to verify the figures, a spokeswoman was quoted as saying on Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

The collection does not measure the total grain held in Australia, with regional or small storage operators not represented in these statistics.

This data series commenced in 2002, following concerns about the lack of information on the quantity of grain stored across Australia during the drought of that year, and was done monthly and quarterly until December 2004, when it was halted as concerns lessened following increased production after the drought ended.

It has been revived in response to concerns regarding feed grain availability during the current drought, the bureau said.