DATA used by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in its annual Bulk Grains Ports Monitoring Report found that Australian grain exports slipped to their lowest levels in eight years during the 2019-20 season.
The report, issued last week, found that exporters shipped only 13 million tonnes of grain in bulk to overseas markets in the 2019-20 shipping year, the lowest since 2011-12 and a whopping 42 per cent below the average over the past nine years.
It is slightly better than the production figures, which, with 29.7m tonnes, was the lowest since 2007-08.
Low exports were the product of continued drought conditions, causing production to be lower than average in all states except Victoria, according to the report, with even Western Australia, which supplied much of the wheat to meet domestic demand in WA and Queensland, still 22pc below average.
In Queensland and NSW production was some 66pc below average, resulting in more grain coming in than leaving through ports in northern NSW and Queensland.
Coastal shipments of grain from WA, SA and Victoria to Queensland and NSW totalled 2.3m tonnes, 34pc below the 2018-19 shipping year total.
The ACCC said this reduction may reflect a material increase in inland movements, especially from SA and Victoria, in addition to reduction in domestic consumption in NSW and Queensland.
However, there is no data kept to see whether anecdotal reports of markedly higher volumes of grain being freighted by road were correct.
The ACCC also found wheat remained the largest grain crop in Australia by a small margin, contributing 51pc of total grain production in 2019-20.
The proportion of total grain production represented by wheat has been declining since the 2011-12 season.
Wheat also remained the primary grain in exports across Australia, however at several port facilities wheat is not the major export grain by tonnage.
While the ACCC said it had been told about the challenges associated with receiving coastal shipments at facilities designed for exporting grain, it was widely considered that the industry had learned from previous seasons and managed this task more efficiently in the 2019-20 season.
Gregor Heard
Gregor Heard is ACM's national grains industry reporter, based in Horsham, Victoria. He has a wealth of knowledge surrounding the cropping sector through his 15 years in the role. Prior to that he was with the Fairfax network as a reporter with Stock & Land. Some of the major issues he has reported on during his time with the company include the deregulation of the export wheat market, the introduction of genetically modified crops and the fight to protect growers better from grain trader insolvencies. Still involved with the family farm he is passionate about rural Australia and its people and hopes to use his role to act as an advocate for those involved in the grain sector.
Gregor Heard is ACM's national grains industry reporter, based in Horsham, Victoria. He has a wealth of knowledge surrounding the cropping sector through his 15 years in the role. Prior to that he was with the Fairfax network as a reporter with Stock & Land. Some of the major issues he has reported on during his time with the company include the deregulation of the export wheat market, the introduction of genetically modified crops and the fight to protect growers better from grain trader insolvencies. Still involved with the family farm he is passionate about rural Australia and its people and hopes to use his role to act as an advocate for those involved in the grain sector.
