Australian December barley exports nudge 1Mt

ячмень barley

AUSTRALIA exported 979,669 tonnes of barley in December, up from 298,800t in November, to signal the start of high-volume new-crop exports.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows that two major feed barley customers, Saudi Arabia on 396,011t and Thailand 216,928t, where the biggest customers.

On sorghum, China continues to be the dominant buyer as the export surplus runs down ahead of new-crop becoming available in volume next month.

Competitive edge

Flexi Grain pool manager Sam Roache said the barley figures indicate very strong global feedgrain demand.

“Non China-origin barley is well priced to maximise traditional demand, along with elastic demand displacing corn and other inputs and wheat into compound feeding in many parts of the world.

“This demand is giving Australian farmers a great opportunity to sell barley before the world market inversion, which comes in July-August with the Black Sea new crop.”

“We see shipped barley and vessels on the stem to March accounting for almost 50 per cent of our annual shipment expectation, which should allay the earlier fears many in the market had about barley’s demand profile.

“Monthly and annual destination records will be tested this season or have been broken already.”

New, repeat business

Mr Roache said December shipments to Saudi represent Australia’s biggest export month to that market seen since October 2011, and sales to Vietnam at around 65,000t are also more than double the previous highest tonnage.

Australia’s December shipments of barley to Thailand are believed to be a record.

“Thailand is becoming an important destination for Australian barley, growing from around 200,000t in 2017-18 to an expected 1-1.5 million tonnes in 2020-21.”

Mr Roache said the November and December barley export figures also show:

  • Japan at around 90,000t shipped in December is up on the 10-year monthly average of around 65,000t;
  • Kuwait at around 80,000t for December is the second-largest monthly shipment in 10 years, and far above the average monthly shipment;
  • Qatar bought around 74,000t in November to make it, in one month alone, the largest year of Australian shipments ever;
  • UAE’s 10-year annual average import figure for Australian barley is 173,000t, and the December figure of around 55,000t represents a very strong start for 2020-21 shipments.
Jly Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Tonnes
China 44706 32200 33878 0 0 0 110784
Japan 33635 0 1008 30800 22009 504 87956
New Zealand 495 487 243 487 0 233 1944
Singapore 0 0 39 0 0 0 39
Taiwan 0 0 507 0 0 0 507
Thailand 724 1140 1276 2828 1576 995 8540
Vietnam 1010 23595 21404 3195 1612 24787 75603
TOTAL 80570 57422 58355 37310 25197 26520 285373

Table 1: Australian July-December 2020 malting barley exports. Source: ABS

FEED Jly Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Tonnes
Bahrain 44 0 44 0 0 43 131
Cambodia 22 0 0 0 0 0 22
China 51500 0 1108 0 33698 0 86306
Hong Kong 0 24 0 0 21 9 54
Indonesia 0 0 0 0 0 978 978
Japan 0 117259 85841 500 26291 90255 320146
Kuwait 0 0 0 0 0 79226 79226
Macau 0 0 5 0 0 0 5
Malaysia 176 0 368 0 242 198 984
Myanmar 0 0 0 0 456 649 1105
New Caledonia 505 401 0 399 0 399 1705
New Zealand 0 0 4630 0 0 0 4630
Oman 0 0 0 0 0 19284 19284
Papua New Guinea 45 0 0 260 0 0 304
Philippines 935 2878 2188 398 536 4486 11421
Qatar 0 19869 0 0 74070 18800 112739
Saudi Arabia 0 0 0 66000 0 396011 462011
Singapore 0 3 3 0 4 3 12
South Korea 803 105 520 408 701 932 3467
Taiwan 1640 3800 2226 1275 3028 4013 15981
Thailand 64499 31509 32852 32353 120144 216928 498286
UAE 1263 7184 804 234 6853 55977 72316
Vietnam 4446 4388 5349 6078 7559 64958 92777
TOTAL 125877 187420 135938 107904 273603 953149 1783891

Table 2: Australian July-December 2020 feed barley exports. Source: ABS

SORGHUM Jly Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Tonnes
China 8160 21422 19336 30789 24628 22454 126789
Japan 0 172 21 64 43 66 366
Kenya 0 0 22000 0 0 2059 24059
Malaysia 0 24 0 23 0 0 47
Philippines 2459 3993 1379 3057 978 1301 13167
Saudi Arabia 96 48 144 0 0 96 384
Taiwan 950 499 599 200 0 1245 3493
TOTAL 11666 26158 43478 34133 25649 27220 168303

 

GrainCentral

Tags: , , ,

Got additional questions?
We will be happy to assist!