Australia: Sorghum moves to port, south booking fert

Price moves for feed wheat and barley have been mixed and moderate in the past week as the supply chain for export sorghum gears up ahead of the season’s first cargo.

In southern markets, growers are selling a load here and there, and are expected to start selling more delivered to port in March and April once backloads of fertiliser are sought ahead of winter-crop planting.

Most of South Australia’s and Victoria’s grain-growing areas have very little subsoil moisture, but growers are nonetheless preparing to plant their usual area as they cross their fingers for a break in autumn, which officially starts on Saturday.

Table 1: Indicative prices in Australian dollars per tonne.

Rapid progress is being made in the sorghum harvest, with many growers in north-west New South Wales and on the Western and Central Downs of Queensland finished amid mostly favourable weather.

Trade sources report loads not being stored on farm are making their way to port in readiness for bulk shipments out of Brisbane starting next month.

“It’s amazing how much sorghum is off already, even around the Jimbour Plain, and they’re done on the Western Downs,” one trader said.

Dryland sorghum yields of up to 9.5-10t/ha have come in from premium cropping districts on the Central Downs.

Many Inner Downs crops are still a week or two away from harvest, but also have potential to yield well above average.

Supplementing the bulk flow of sorghum is a modest amount of container packing.

On the domestic front, some poultry consumers are putting sorghum into rations, or considering doing so, with its discount to wheat being sufficient to make it a possible inclusion.

“The chook guys are starting to put up their hands on sorghum; they’re willing to talk about it.”

Feedmills are chugging away on March-June coverage amid sporadic export demand for both wheat and barley as international markets factor in the knock-on effect of possible US tariffs and geopolitical influences.

Both bulk and containerised demand is being seen, but intermittently.

“There are varying bids out there this week,” GeoCommodities broker Brad Knight said.

Short covering to fill boats, containers, or nearby domestic demand, as well as payment terms to growers, and global competition, are all influencing prices.

Companies that own export infrastructure have been offering the strongest bids in the past week or two.

“People with assets are being the most competitive.”

Mr Knight said the desire for growers to backload fertiliser ahead of winter-crop planting is also making port rather than up-country depot pricing attractive.

“Growers are slow to moderate sellers at the moment.

“They are buying fertiliser, and a lot will be moving out in March and April.”

Another trader said the approaching Victorian corn harvest has some growers keen to clean out winter cereals from their silos.

“It’s really sporadic on wheat and barley,” one trader said of the domestic feedgrain market.

“It’s hard to get big volumes, and growers are happy to drip-feed grain out when the price goes up.”

Consumers in up-country Victoria are generally paying around $325/t for barley, $345-$350/t for SFW wheat, and $355-$360/t for ASW wheat.

Tags: export, barley, price, sorghum, feed wheat