Domestic grain markets continued to strengthen last week as United States futures soared to new rally highs amid concerns of tightening global supplies.
Grain buyers are being forced to pay up for local grain supplies, despite last year's record harvest, to secure wheat, barley, and sorghum. Grain prices crept higher through the week as buyers followed overseas markets up.
The rally in US grain markets is being driven by corn where prices have rocketed 30 per cent higher in the past five weeks. Severe drought in Brazil is raising concerns of looming feed grain shortages, which is being accentuated by China's unrelenting demand for feed grain imports.
United States Department of Agriculture is expected to slash its forecast for Brazil's corn crop when the latest world supply and demand estimates report is issued this week.
Nearby prices for wheat and barley across eastern Australia rallied by $5 to $20 a tonne with even stronger gains in WA.
Active buying from the northern feedlots pushed southern Queensland wheat, barley, and sorghum values up $5 to $10. Nearby sorghum was $10 higher to $315 on exporter short covering. Barley was up $8 to $290 delivered into the Darling Downs while stockfeed wheat was up $10 to $322.
Grain sales have been put on the backburner as winter crop plantings take priority for farmers. Last week's timely showers across southern Queensland and northern NSW have refreshed the topsoil moisture, making for ideal planting conditions.
Grain truck shortages continue to compound difficulties in accessing grain from farmers, where selling has stalled as they hope for even higher prices next week.
Most of northern NSW received upwards of 15mm last week with 5mm to 10mm across southern Queensland.
Australia's grain exports continued at a brisk pace in March, recent government trade data showed. There were 2.36 million tonnes of wheat exports from Australia in March, down from the record large 2.6mt in February. Vietnam was the largest destination for Australian wheat in March with about 400,000 tonnes followed by Indonesia.
National barley exports for March were strong at 1mt with more than two-thirds of the shipments going to Saudi Arabia.
Queensland exported more than 340,000t of chickpeas in March, 167,000t of wheat, and about 50,000t of sorghum, the data showed.
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