Queensland sorghum prices continued to slide last week as farmers make sizable inroads into planting a potentially huge 2018 crop.
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Mostly dry weather in the past week provided ideal conditions and allowed for quick sorghum planting progress. Soil moistures are good following the good October rain and last week’s sunshine allowed farmers to remain on tractors through the night.
Farmers were keen to get as much seeding completed as possible before the forecast rain this week. Most farmers would like to plant sorghum crops in September and October to avoid pollinating through the summer months, but the wet October made this difficult. Some farmers managed to get most of the sorghum seeded in October, but a lot of the crop will be November seeded.
Scattered rain is expected to slow sorghum planting this week. Scattered storms are forecast to move through southern Queensland on Monday, with the potential of more rain. Farmers are hopeful the forecast rain won’t significantly delaying planting progress, with the heaviest rain expected along the coast and along the range.
Sorghum prices continued their downward slide last week with the ideal planting conditions. New season’s sorghum for a March delivery fell by a further $15 a tonne last week to $255 delivered into Darling Downs markets. Similar declines were seen in Brisbane and Newcastle.
Stockfeed wheat values came under some pressure with more downgraded wheat coming to the market because of the wet October. SFW wheat ended the week $8 lower at $320 Darling Downs while F1 barley was steady at $314 delivered Downs.
Drier weather allowed farmers to make substantial progress make substantial progress in harvesting wheat, barley and chickpeas. Traders are saying that 60 per cent of the Southern Queensland wheat crop has already been harvested and farmers will be wrapping up by mid-November, weather permitting.
Protein levels in the wheat seem to be tapering away as the harvest progresses with less APH2 coming to the market. APH2 premiums ended the week $8 higher at $22 above APW.
Cool weather is slowing grain harvesting throughout Australia. In Western Australia, CBH has only received 400,000 tonnes of grain, which is less than half of the five-year average pace. Similarly, South Australian grain receivals are also lagging, as the cool spring wheat slows down grain ripening and dry down.
Cool, showery weather continues to stifle a general start to grain harvesting in southern NSW and northern Victoria.
Graincorp is yet to issue a harvest report for the 2017/18 season.
The cool finish will be beneficial for crops through NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.
Global grain markets were little changed last week. The world is awash with wheat and feed grains following consecutive bumper global crops. World wheat markets remain anchored by the record large Russian wheat shipments that are penetrating deep into Asia.
Traders are reporting that key wheat importers through South East Asia remain reluctant to buy at current prices as they continue to purchase large volumes from the Black Sea.