The Australia Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released the country's September international trade data last week.
This completed the national grain export picture for the 2020-21 marketing year, which finished on September 30.
A feature of the 2020-21 grain export program was robust sales in the final three months of the marketing year due to production issues in Russia, Canada and the United States - and quality issues in the European Union.
Exports of wheat, barley, sorghum and canola totaled 36.336 million tonnes for the 12-month period.
That was quite an impressive result, considering the Australian pipeline was empty leading into the 2020 harvest after a string of poor seasons in the eastern states.
The low carry-in meant the export program didn't ramp-up until December 2020.
October shipments totaled 0.542 million tonnes and November shipments were 1.063 million tonnes.
At 4.053 million tonnes, March was the only month that topped the 4 million tonnes barrier for exports of wheat, barley, sorghum and canola combined.
May was just under that, at 3.989 million tonnes, and every month from December 2020 to June 2021 topped 3.5 million tonnes for the four commodities.
The busiest port was Fremantle/Kwinana, with 5.527 million tonnes of wheat, barley and canola departing in bulk and containers during the season.
Port Adelaide and Newcastle filled the other podium spots, with exports of 3.383 million tonnes and 3.28 million tonnes, respectively.
Port Kembla was only just behind on 3.202 million tonnes.
On the wheat front, September exports came in at a disappointing 1.309 million tonnes.
That took marketing year exports in bulk and containers to 23.77 million tonnes.
This was second only to the 2011-12 season, when 24.66 million tonnes was shipped to overseas customers.
Durum wheat exports totaled 406,000 tonnes, making up just 1.7 per cent of total wheat exports.
Container business made up 9 per cent of total international sales, with bulk sales accounting for 91pc across the season.
The gong for the biggest wheat export state went to Western Australia, at 8.603 million tonnes for the 12-month period.
New South Wales filled second spot, with 5.677 million tonnes, and South Australia held off a fast-finishing Victoria to take the minor placing, with 4.132 million tonnes.
Four countries accounted for 49.6pc - or 11.79 million tonnes - of total Australian wheat exports in 2020-21.
Indonesia was the most popular destination, buying 4.704 million tonnes during the marketing year.
In a bit of a surprise, Vietnam was the second biggest wheat destination at 2.95 million tonnes; China was third, with 2.182 million tonnes; and the Philippines rounded off the top four with 1.953 million tonnes.
ABS posted a September barley export number of 548,000 million tonnes, taking total barley exports in the 2020-21 season to 7.92 million tonnes.
Barley exports were quick out of the blocks after last year's harvest, with December the biggest month of the whole season at 977,000 tonnes.
March and February were the next best at 964,000 tonnes and 928,000 tonnes, respectively.
Saudi Arabia was the dominant destination, accounting for 2.858 million tonnes - or 36.1pc of total barley exports.
Japan touched out Thailand for second place, with 1.06 million tonnes and 1.059 million tonnes, respectively.
Western Australia shipped 3.569 million tonnes during the year, or 45pc of the total barley program.
South Australia was next best at 2.009 million tonnes, or 25.4pc of barley shipments in both containers and bulk.
Victoria shipped 1.576 million tonnes of barley.
Malting barley exports made up a paltry 513,000 tonnes, or 6.5pc of the total barley export number.
This was well down on the heady numbers when China dominated the malting barley playing field.
The emergence of Mexico as Australia's single biggest malting barley customer in 2020-21 was one bright light for the industry.
Mexican imports totaled 141,000 tonnes, or 27.5pc of total malting barley exports for the season.
The first shipment of 35,000 tonnes departed the port of Albany in WA in January.
This was followed by three more in April, July and August - all from WA ports.
South America also surfaced as a malting barley destination in 2020-21, despite competition from Argentina.
The west coast nation of Peru was Australia's second-biggest malting barley client at 89,000 tonnes, and its northern neighbour Ecuador imported 25,000 tonnes.
The two countries shared three single port loaders out of WA across the season, with 58,000 tonnes departing in May followed by 30,000 tonnes in August and 26,000 tonnes in September.
Australia exported 3.419 million tonnes of canola in 2020-21, the third-highest on record after exports of 3.598 million tonnes in the 2016-17 season and 3.488 million tonnes in the 2012-13 season.
WA dominated the export stem throughout the season, shipping 1.491 million tonnes - or 43.6pc of the nation's exports.
Victoria was the second biggest exporter with 903,000 tonnes - or 26.4pc of exports.
European Union nations (including the United Kingdom) completely overshadowed all other demand points, accounting for 75.5pc of Australia's canola exports.
Germany was the largest discharge destination, with 929,000 tonnes, followed by Belgium on 765,000 tonnes and France on 402,000 tonnes across the marketing year.
Sorghum exports for the 2020-21 marketing year came to 1.226 million tonnes.
But the data continues to show a 38,000 tonnes bulk shipment out of Port Giles in January, which I suspect was actually wheat. It seems somebody got the codes wrong somewhere.
The busiest month was September, with exports of 253,000 tonnes - followed by July with 216,000 tonnes.
China continues to be the most important customer, taking 79.6pc of total exports, or 976,000 tonnes.
The East African nation of Kenya took second spot, with 98,000 tonnes, and Japan was third, with 96,000 tonnes.
The flush season across the country in 2021 has been capped-off by good spring rainfall in most regions.
This has pushed the 2021 harvest back in many districts, especially in the eastern states, and means that old crop grain will continue to dominate export shipments of wheat and - to a lesser degree - barley, until December.
There was almost 1.2 million tonnes of wheat on the export stem for October and almost 1.4 million tonnes on the stem for November - most of which will be 2020-21 season grain.
That will push 2020-21 season wheat exports past the 26 million tonnes mark, which is a record for a single production season.
Also, if domestic consumption is pegged at 9 million tonnes - and assuming that the national carry out conservatively doubles from 1.3 million tonnes in 2019-20 to 2.6 million tonnes in 2020-21 - then national wheat production last season has to be north of 36 million tonnes.
That is much higher than the official Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) figure of 33.337 million tonnes.
The barley story is similar.
Exports in the year to September 30 totaled 7.921 million tonnes, and there were 340,000 tonnes on October stem.
The November stem has 140,000 tonnes out of NSW and Victoria, which will be old-crop grain.
But the bookings of 220,000 tonnes and 380,000 tonnes out of SA and WA, respectively, will largely be new crop grain.
That takes last season's barley exports to 8.4 million tonnes.
Pegging domestic consumption at 5.5 million tonnes and carry-out at just 1.2 million tonnes prints a production number of 14.1 million tonnes, versus ABARES forecast of 13.093 million tonnes.
