With welcome rain across the month of June the majority of Australia's cropping regions are shaping up to have an average to well above average production year for 2021/22. 

As Phillip Lowe, the Reserve Bank of Australia governor said last week, the performance of the Australian agriculture sector throughout the Covid pandemic has helped underpin the nation’s economic recovery.

There’s rarely a dull day in Australian Agriculture and the past few weeks has been no exception, with a lingering summer program seeing both harvesting and planting operations being carried out side-by-side in many areas of the East Coast, with the associated logistics of it all under the pump too.

What a month it has been. A Cyclone tore through the northern wheatbelt, heavy downpours for the remaining wheatbelt and commodity markets rallying heavily over the past three weeks...

Fresh data released from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) highlighted the strong grain export program being executed around the world at present, with Australia featuring prominently in wheat, barley, sorghum and oilseeds.

A week can be a long time in grain markets and the week just passed was no exception. With over eight inches of soaking rain received in parts of Southern and Central New South Wales cropping belts since Thursday last week, agriculturalists will look back fondly.

Overseas markets have been erratic over the past couple of weeks, to say the least. With most markets predominantly being driven by China recently, with their New Year holiday taking place, US futures have turned to fundamentals for price action.

Certainly an interesting start to the new year from a grain marketing perspective with some big swings on CBOT wheat futures pushing past 670 US cents per bushel, barley tenders awarded and canola prices riding a roller coaster for the month.

Over the last six months we have seen global agricultural commodity markets navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic with a very strong bullish undertone.

Australia’s export infrastructure is facing one of its greatest tests with a near record crop on the East Coast and surging demand for Australian grain around the world.

2020 has been a forgettable year for lots of reasons, from bushfires to Covid-19. But the year is shaping up to be completely memorable as one of the best cropping seasons in recent times.

The month of November has been one of the busiest in recent years with over 7 million tonnes of grain received into the bulk handling system on the east coast alone coinciding with the New South Wales harvest close to 75% completed.

GrainFlow’s Dynamic Binning is upgrading almost 15% of wheat deliveries across it’s storage and handling network this season. 

The harvest to date has been punctuated by weather interruptions throughout the cropping belt of New South Wales and Southern Queensland. From all reports it hasn’t been a question of did you get rain, but more of how much was received.

In time for harvest, Cargill has been accredited as an Australian Trusted Trader by Australian Border Force and The Department of Home Affairs. This means Cargill will be able to clear Customs more easily and quickly, allowing our customers to receive goods in a timely manner.

As the Central Queenslanders look to wrap up the 2020 winter harvest, their Southern Queensland and Northern New South Wales counterparts are now looking to take it up a gear after gnawing off the earlier paddocks.