E-Malt.com News article: Australia: Malting and feed barley exports down in March as compared to February

Australia exported 1,357,312 tonnes of barley and 366,985t of sorghum in March, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The barley figures comprises 1,039,200t of feed and 318,112t of malting, with China the market for 80pc of the feed barley shipped, and 84pc of the malting.

Saudi Arabia was once again the second-biggest market for feed barley, with 112,177t shipped in March, followed by Qatar on 22,050t.

On malting, Peru on 22,000t and South Korea on 13,680t were the second and third-biggest markets respectively.

Total feed and malting barley figures for March were both down from the February total, feed by 9pc and malting by 14pc.

In contrast, March sorghum exports were close to double the February figure to indicate bulk hatches and containers filling with new-crop volume from the southern Queensland and northern New South Wales harvest.

McDonald Pelz senior broker Sam Roache said barley exports drifted slightly from the record month in March, while still posting a historically high 1.36Mt, driven by very strong Chinese demand and supplemented by Middle Eastern buying of feed and consistent South American demand on malting.

“April stems are pointing to a similar volume month, before a sharp drop off in May-June forward,” Mr Roache said.

“Stems indicate exports could halve from the strong early levels, which is driven by declining stocks and rallying price rather than a lack of demand.”

Mr Roache said barley prices in China have rallied by more than A$80/t since the March quarter, and therefore feed demand has lowered at current price levels.

“Malting sector demand remains present and this is plenty for the market for the rest of the season when compared with available supply.

“Basis what we can see on the stems, around 90pc plus of exports are already visible and with more demand in the market July forward, it is likely that exports will exceed expectations.”

Mr Roache said Australian barley remained relatively well priced versus other origins in the July forward period, especially on malting grades.

“Harvest pressure has been so far muted in the Black Sea and Europe, with the wheat rally very supportive of European origins in the past two weeks.”

On sorghum, Mr Roache said the market remains “highly political”, with US-China trade and possible trade deals adding technicality to the only export buyer.

He said March showed a healthy start to the new-crop program.

“Forward stems for April and May also show strong months out of Newcastle and Brisbane.

“More recently, the dry weather and high feedgrain prices have begun to drag into local feed markets, mainly in the poultry sector.

“It is likely that export activity out of the New South Wales and southern Queensland ports will be restricted by this, although some business will be done for June-July forward.”

The sorghum harvest in Central Qld has just started.

“The CQ finish has been good, but liquidity is reportedly poor up there so far.

“It is expected that the bulk program will fire back up basis CQ in late June-July.

“Australian prices are relatively high versus other origins, with Argentina and the US both at big discounts, and Australian demand minimised to the smaller higher-value baijiu sector mainly.


21 May, 2026