Australian wheat exports slump on falling demand in Indonesia

Australian wheat exports dropped to 1.1 million tonnes in April from 1.4 million tonnes in March with shipments to Indonesia dropping to 242,200 tonnes from 379,100 tonnes in March, according to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE) said.

Bulk shipments overseas fell by about 313,900 tonnes to 856,700 tonnes in April.

Wheat shipped in bags and containers were also down, dipping 12% from March to 208,700 tonnes.

Vietnam was the biggest importer of Australia's wheat in bags and containers with 34,700 tonnes while Taiwan received the second largest amount of 17,600 tonnes.

Month-on-month fluctuations in wheat volumes are common because of harvest dates, world prices and exchange rates.

Meanwhile, Australian wheat production is expected to rise to 22.1 million tonnes in 2010-11, up 2% from 2009-10 assuming average yields, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE) said in a report today (June 16). At the same time, the area planted to wheat is forecast to drop by 2% to 13.5 million hectares.