Australia exports 838,715t barley, 34,417t November sorghum

Australia exported 838,715 tonnes of barley and 34,417t of sorghum in November, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Feed barley exports for November totalled 602,449t, up from 86,405t in October, to reflect new-crop availability from the Australian harvest.

China on 554,223t was the biggest market by far for November-shipped feed barley, with Peru on 21,299t and Japan on 7700t the second and third-biggest markets respectively.

China was also the biggest market for malting exports, taking 195,606t of the 236,266t shipped, up from 34,216t exported in total in October.

Vietnam on 34,709t was the second-biggest malting barley market for November, followed by Singapore on 3683t.

China was also the biggest destination by far for sorghum, taking 28,733t of the 34,417t shipped, followed by Taiwan on 4264t and The Philippines on 1356t.

Barley exports rebounded strongly for November, as suggested by booked business and shipping line ups, which has confirmed what markets have been indicating for some time.

“The market here was record tight for carryout stocks and just waiting for the Aussie new-crop tonnage to become available to ship, with Chinese imports continuing very strongly from all origins in the background,” Flexi Grain pool manager Sam Roache said.

“Chinese demand has continued strongly, but the globally tight barley market has us pricing business into other Asian users, South and Central American business continuing and most interestingly pricing feed to Saudi Arabia in the last month to indicate just how competitive Australia is.”

Mr Roache said Australian shipping stems suggest 600,000-700,000t of exports in December, followed by 1 million tonnes plus in January and 800,000t plus in February.

“Victoria and Western Australia are both starting the year strongly and will be somewhere near 60pc complete on exports in the second quarter.”

Mr Roache said recent corn-market strength has made barley cheap versus corn and feed wheat, both at destination and locally, which will increase demand for barley into feed rations across many regions to underpin the market.

“Importantly for Australia, the Chinese Dalian corn futures have been strong recently, up approximately US$15/t since December’s lows, and showing a price dynamic which is increasing barley’s discount to corn prices, and increasing feed demand.”

Sorghum exports were low for November, with stocks low, and stems dominated by chickpeas and wheat, which saw significant execution issues and very high freight and execution costs.

“Chinese overall imports for November continued strongly, but will likely taper off a bit from December to February due to low availability ex Australia.”

Mr Roache said new-crop bulk sorghum demand has been good, with active buying in recent months.

“We expect to see export activity continue to remain subdued…before February, March and April as the stems turn over to sorghum exports again as new crop becomes available and chickpea exports slow into the end of February as the India window closes.”

“A lot remains to be seen with global politics, but with risks over US milo due to potential retaliatory tariffs against the US, we expect to see continued interest in Australian sorghum as a less risky alternative to US, the other major supplier.”

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

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

Table 3: Australian sorghum exports for September, October and November 2024. Source: ABS

Tags: markets, sorghum, Australia, China, export, barley, Vietnam, feed barley, Japan, Peru