Australia: Australia exports 969,830 tonnes of barley in March 2021

Australia exported 961,823 tonnes of feed barley, 8,007 tonnes of malting barley and 52,208 tonnes of sorghum in March, according to the latest export data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

While the malting volume showed a drop of 86 per cent from February exports of 59,280 tonnes, feed barley shipments rose 11pc from February to 961,823 tonnes.

“March exports of barley are once again around 1 million tonnes, which has been the case for a few months now,” Market Check head of strategy Nick Crundall said.

“Demand out of South-east Asia is helping push export volumes up but really it’s Saudi Arabia that is single-handedly carrying Aussie barley exports.”

March export data takes Australian barley exports for the 2020-21 marketing year to more than 4.6 mln tonnes, and Mr Crundall said April and May are also set to be relatively big months.

“Volumes will drop off though as available stock in exporting states winds down, and Northern Hemisphere barley comes online,” he added.