Australia: Grower selling slows in falling market

Prices for wheat and barley in Australia have dropped, leading to a decrease in sales from growers and a slowdown in purchases by consumers. The slowdown in exports and the end of free warehousing have not significantly increased trade volume, as growers are hesitant to forward sell due to yield uncertainties. Meanwhile, feedmills are seeking additional protein meal, and canola prices have surged. The market is expected to see more activity as consumers may start booking volumes as offshore values decline.

Prices for prompt and new-crop wheat and barley have fallen by up to $15 per tonne in the past week to curb grower interest in selling. Buying from consumers has also slowed, as excellent prospects for the northern region’s cereal crops amid a softening world market look like pushing plenty of grain towards domestic buyers come October. In Victoria, South Australia and southern New South Wales, showery weather continues, but growers are generally a long way from feeling comfortable about forward selling new-crop grain based on shaky yield prospects which good rain in coming weeks would improve. Exports of wheat and barley out of eastern Australia have slowed considerably, and the run-out on June 30 of free GrainCorp warehousing appears to have pushed little extra grain into the trade’s hands as competition from Northern Hemisphere crops ramps up. Table 1: Indicative prices in Australian dollars per tonne. Growers in southern Queensland and northern NSW are coming to terms with ...