Australia details year to September barley, sorghum exports

Australia's exports of barley and sorghum reached 7.9 million tonnes and 2.1 million tonnes respectively between October 2023 and September 2024, with China being the primary market for these grains. The country's barley exports were distributed as 4,967,676 tonnes for feed and 2,941,127 tonnes for malting, and sorghum exports amounted to 1.4 million tonnes. Japan and Vietnam were the next biggest markets for Australian barley and sorghum, respectively. The strong demand in these markets has led to a significant decrease in Australia's barley stocks, which is expected to limit exports in the following year.

Australia exported 7.9 million tonnes (Mt) of barley and 2.1Mt of sorghum in the year to 30 September 2024, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The barley figure comprises 4,967,676t of feed and 2,941,127t of malting. China was the destination for the lion’s share of all three coarse-grain categories, with its imports totalling 3.9Mt of Australian feed barley, 2.2Mt of malting barley, and 1.9Mt of sorghum. On feed barley, the second and third-biggest markets were Japan on 8.3Mt and Vietnam a long way back on 45,258t, while Mexico on 223,179t and Vietnam on 134,821t were the second and third-biggest malting markets. On sorghum, Japan on 72,352t and Taiwan on 40,621t were the second and third-biggest markets. Flexi Grain pool manager Sam Roache said Australia’s September barley exports posted a strong end to the marketing year, including around 150,000t of mostly malting coming out of Victoria. “Powered by our return to China, the world’s largest ...