By Richard Beck

20^th November, 2023 

 

The Western Australian harvest looks like being a quick one with a lot of light crops this year. Receivals in the Geraldton zone started in mid-September and a number of growers have already finished. Production expectations were not high given the lack of summer and growing season rain in most parts of the region. The complete lack of any finishing rain has seen production dip further, particularly in the case of wheat. Canola seemed to hold on relatively well and has already exceeded GIWAs forecast of 150,000t with 209,000t delivered to date, still a far cry from last year’s receivals of 498,000 tonnes. Wheat production looks unlikely to achieve GIWA’s forecast of 1,450,000 tonnes. To date 785,000 tonnes has been received and daily deliveries suggest we have seen the peak of harvest. Utility wheat grades (high screenings) are dominating receivals in most parts of the Geraldton zone. 

The Northern and Eastern parts of the Kwinana zone have also been impacted by no summer rain and very limited growing season rain. High screenings are pushing some wheat into utility grades in Kwinana but not nearly to the same extent as is the case in Geraldton zone. 

The yields that have been achieved given the low rainfall in many areas is testament to the advances technology and farming systems employed by growers.

Harvesting in the Southern Kwinana zone, Albany zone and majority of the Esperance zones is building with early results suggesting generally good yields, in some cases as good as 22/23. Wheat protein is typically higher than seen in recent year.

Rain over the weekend and early this week has slowed progress in some areas from Kwinana through to Esperance but a generally fine and warm outlooks should see harvest in full swing again by mid week.

Australian wheat production this year is forecast by ABARE at 25.3 million tonnes with Western Australia making up 8.5 million tonnes of this total. This represents a much smaller export task this year and marketers can focus on higher paying markets particularly for milling grade wheat. The smaller crop also means that there is stronger competition between marketers to accumulate tonnes. Consequently pricing is remaining very firm relative to global values which are generally weak, being pressured by sales from the Black Sea region in particular and Canada and Europe to a lesser extent. 

Barley prices have come back from the spike seen following the resumption of exports to China and continue to be sensitive to demand news and sentiment coming out of China on an almost daily basis. Canola pricing is relatively the weakest among the big three grains produced in Western Australia. Despite a significantly smaller crop locally and nationally, abundant supply from Canada in particular is keeping canola prices subdued.