Australia exports 679,112t barley, 45,809t sorghum in Dec

AUSTRALIA exported 679,112 tonnes of barley and 45,809t of sorghum in December, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The barley figure comprises 498,458t of feed and 180,654t of malting, both down from the November totals of 600,437t and 233,340t respectively.

On feed barley, China on 258,230t accounted for more than half of the December total, followed by surprise re-entrant Saudi Arabia on 150,000t, and Japan on 66,000t.

On malting barley, China on 127,711t followed by South Africa on 46,411t and Singapore on 2363t were the three biggest customers.

The shipment of 29,395t to Kenya made it the biggest customer for December-shipped sorghum, followed by China on 11,072t, and Taiwan on 3720t.

Flexi Grain pool manager Sam Roache said Saudi’s purchase of 30 percent of Australia’s December feed barley exports points to the global tightness in barley, and Australia’s “very competitive pricing relative to other origin countries”.

“Added to 66,000t to Japan and we have one of our most diverse demand months in recent times,” Mr Roache said.

On malting, Mr Roache said South Africa being in for a large shipment of 50,000t further evidences Australia’s overall competitiveness versus other origins, and has added to higher grain imports to sub-Saharan Africa on account of drought and poor local production.

“Looking forward, we see big barley shipping stems for January and February, pointing to more than 1Mt per month exports, with March beginning to build now too.”

Mr Roache said shipments to date, plus what is on stems, pointing to 4Mt plus being exported to first-half March out of an expected 6.7Mt total for the year to September.

“With the continued strong demand we have been seeing, we should expect the majority of exports to be shipped by June, avoiding any Northern Hemisphere harvest pressure.”

Mr Roache said further business and continuing inquiry can be seen into secondary markets, including Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East, as Chinese inquiry continues strongly as the consumer slowly adjusts to higher prices.

On the local front, he said a slowdown in barley selling was evident in Western Australia as the grower moves to a very well sold position.

“This is leaving the market a little short on tonnage, as WA was doing all the heavy lifting on export volume.

“In response, we are seeing export prices grind higher to US$10-15/t over harvest lows, as the market triess to encourage the last 10pc out of WA farmers, and growers in other states to let go of barley stocks, despite very dry conditions across Victorian and South Australian growing regions.”

“Looking at the overall picture in the back end of the year, we will need to see global barley ration demand with price, which is not happening today.

“Higher corn prices are driving base feed prices higher, which increases barley demand at both origin and destination.”

Mr Roache said Dalian Corn Exchange corn price support in China and strong demand for both feed and malting barley does not indicate the adjustment will be driven by Chinese demand at current prices.

“Barley surplus is super tight, demand is higher than many continue to estimate and overall we can afford no problem with Northern Hemisphere production.”

On sorghum, December and the months beside it reflect the annual seasonal low in shipping.

“With low sorghum stocks and high shipping competition from pulses and wheat due to harvest pressure, we rarely see big sorghum months this time of year.

“This year it was even lower than normal due to the record chickpea program taking the majority of stem in the sorghum-export areas.

Notable in the figures was a Kenyan shipment, which is a small but consistent destination ex Australia.

“As with barley, this creates one of our most diverse destination months for sorghum in a long time.”

Mr Roach said sorghum shipments look likely to stay for in January and February before the new-crop program fires up in March-April.

“Demand from China is present for Aussie origin at good values, with the tariff and potential retaliation question marks hanging over US sorghum, our biggest competitor.

“Today, Australia is in a preferential position to capture Chinese demand, which is ideal for the bigger crop year on year.

Mr Roache has flagged a possible tariff deal could see China agreeing to buy large volumes of US agricultural products, which happened during the previous Trump presidency trade war.

“This would see Australia lose its outright preference versus US, but not undermine demand completely.”

FEED	Oct	Nov	Dec	Tonnes
China	75118	553063	258230	886410
Ecuador	0	7301	0	7301
Hong Kong	12	0	12	24
Japan	0	7700	66000	73700
Malaysia	355	221	219	794
New Caledonia	488	153	160	801
Papua New Guinea	25	0	0	25
Peru	0	21299	0	21299
Philippines	889	636	1140	2665
Saudi Arabia	0	0	150000	150000
South Korea	1735	1159	657	3551
Taiwan	387	2373	1295	4055
Thailand	5397	3550	4536	13483
UAE	0	0	15000	15000
Vietnam	1999	2982	1210	6191
TOTAL	86405	600437	498458	1185300

Table 1: Australian feed barley exports for October, November and December 2024. Source: ABS

MALTING	Oct	Nov	Dec	Tonnes
China	7050	192681	127711	327443
Japan	22094	0	0	22094
Mexico	3000	0	0	3000
Philippines	380	440	1399	2219
Singapore	783	3683	2363	6828
South Africa	0	0	46411	46411
South Korea	0	640	159	799
Taiwan	0	529	0	529
Thailand	659	660	332	1651
Vietnam	250	34709	2279	37237
TOTAL	34216	233340	180654	448210

Table 2: Australian malting barley exports for October, November and December 2024. Source: ABS

SORGHUM	Oct	Nov	Dec	Tonnes
China	177097	28233	11072	216403
Japan	42	64	43	148
Kenya	0	0	29395	29395
Philippines	1492	1114	1005	3612
South Korea	48	0	0	48
Taiwan	1733	4264	3720	9717
Vietnam	0	0	575	575
TOTAL	180413	33675	45809	259897

Table 3: Australian sorghum exports for October, November and December

Source: Grain Central