Export boom tipped for Australian grain

With grain production excelling on the east coast this year, exports are expected to return to good volumes.

Large supplies: Grain Trade Australia chief executive officer Pat O’Shannassy says with high supplies this season following years of drought, Australian exports are tipped to go back to delivering good volumes to traditionally big buyers.

BIG yields throughout the east coast’s grain belt have served up an abundance of opportunities for Australian exports this season.

Grain Trade Australia chief executive officer Pat O’Shannassy said with high supplies following years of droughts, Australian exporters were able to return to delivering good volumes to traditionally big buyers.

“This is happening as supplies are back and (competing) Russian exports have been hampered after introducing a higher export tax on wheat,” he said,

Mr O’Shannassy was speaking before his scheduled address to today’s Grains Research and Development Corporation’s Bendigo update on market drivers and opportunities for Australian grain.

He said existing markets that presented opportunities for barley included Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.

“If we look back through the exports over 10 or 15 years, if each country took the most it’s taken in that time, there is a lot of demand here,” Mr O’Shannassy said.

“We know there is also Mexico as a new opportunity and Saudi Arabia for barley.”

However, Mr O’Shannassy said while Australian barley was finding new buyers, it had lost “a lot of value”.

“If we have a realistic look at it, we want to work with the Government to get the China market back,” he said.

The Indonesian market was also opening up as a large opportunity for wheat, which Australia had previously been “priced out”of due to drought on the east coast.

Demand for Australian wheat in China had also been strong this season.

“We have seen demand from China (for wheat) with shipments there in November and December,” Mr O’Shannassy said. “China could average 1.5 million tonnes up to 2.5 million tonnes of wheat.”

Meanwhile, Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre’s Larisa Cato who presented at GRDC’s Perth update on opportunities for the Australian wheat market in South East Asia, said there were major openings for Australian exports, particularly in Indonesia and Vietnam, due to population increases.

A change in diets was also contributing to more export opportunities in South East Asia.

“More and more people have westernised their diets and are eating less rice and more and more wheat-based products,” Ms Cato said.

MORE: NSW GRAIN GROWERS CONFIDENT IN SEASON AHEAD

BAIT BEFORE MICE WOES MOUNT, EXPERT WARNS