Australian wheat exports hit a nine-year high in February on the back of a record grains crop, data on Wednesday showed, but heavy rains are likely to have weighed on shipments in March. Australia is the world's fourth largest wheat exporter and is enjoying a bumper 2011/2012 harvest after soaking rains boosted yields.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics said wheat exports hit 2.4 million tonnes in February, up 283,000 tonnes or 13 percent from the previous month. That was nearly double the exports from a year ago and the highest monthly total since 2003. However, analysts said the trend may end when March volumes are announced later this month as flooding in New South Wales and Victoria disrupted transport of grains to shipping ports. "Despite the record export levels, floods in March will have presented a logistical challenge to exports," Luke Matthews, agriculture commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia said.
World wheat prices hit a two-month low last week, driven down by ample global supplies and crop-friendly weather in top exporter, the United States. While analysts expect Australia's 2012/13 wheat output to fall from its record high due to lower prices, a still large crop is likely to put pressure on the nation's grain storage capacity and infrastructure, industry officials and analysts said last month. The ABS said the level of grain stored in February by bulk grain handlers fell 2.3 million tonnes to 23.3 million tonnes compared to January levels.
The ABS said stocks of milling grade wheat totalled 15.9 million tonnes or 68 percent of grain stored, with the remaining 7.4 million tonnes graded for feed. Total wheat grain stored in February was 2.9 million tonnes higher than the amount stored one year earlier.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.