SA Market Wrap

By Chris Ward

30th March 2023

 

On the back of a record 22/23 SA harvest in many districts and record receivals into several SA GrainFlow sites which dragged well into February in the later areas of the state, all of a sudden a new season is on our door step.

Most SA grain growers were summer spraying whilst still harvesting and many only had a short break to wind down or no break in some cases before needing to get jobs like seed cleaning, machinery maintenance and paddock plans underway. Spreading gypsum, lime & manure, tending to livestock, grain marketing and gearing up with the required inputs for the next crop all amongst the list of “jobs to be done” before seeding.

With some crop input costs forecast to be lower than last season, SA growers should have the confidence go with their first choice cropping program – pending a timely break to the season.

In commodity markets SA wheat has hung in there remarkably well, particularly on the lower protein grades on the back of solid shipping demand all over the state for most of the post-harvest period before taking a tumble in recent weeks. “Volatile” has been a much used word to describe the wheat market of late and with the uncertainty around the Black Sea corridor still hovering, a lack of bullish news has been a weight on the market. On a positive note, lentils have pushed higher on the back of strong export demand and many growers cashed in on malt barley premiums in 2022.

SA has been relatively dry over the post-harvest period but this isn’t unusual for the driest state on the driest continent. Whilst forecasters have the La Nina bias ending, we’ve proven before it’s not how much, it’s when it falls that counts. With modern tillage methods and paddock management we can grow some very good crops on minimal moisture when required and SA growers are past masters at this.

Cargill - AWB is launching a new online platform - ”Customer Hub”  which brings together a range of services, making it easier to sell your grain, view your finances and stay on top of your paperwork. Customer Hub upgrades the functionality from our old portals and is designed to save you time and simplify our services.

Click on the Customer Hub link - Customer Hub (mycargill.com)

Once signed up and logged in - pair your NGR’s and you’ll be set all to go.

Good luck to all SA growers for the season ahead.