SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
WHEAT GRAIN STORED
Total grain stored by bulk grain handlers and users at the end of December 2008 increased to 15.0 million tonnes, as the current harvest contributed to stocks.
At the end of December 2008, the amount of wheat grain stored by bulk grain handlers was 14.5 million tonnes, of which 12.3 million tonnes was graded for milling and 2.2 million tonnes was graded for feed and other uses.
Wheat grain stored by wheat grain users at the end of January 2009 increased by 28.0% from December 2008 to 655 thousand tonnes.
WHEAT GRAIN USED
The estimate of wheat grain used in January 2009 was 1.8 million tonnes, an increase of 11.3% from last month. Domestic usage accounted for 449 thousand tonnes (25.6%), and 1.3 million tonnes (74.4%) were exported.
The total wheat grain used since the end of September 2008 was 5.2 million tonnes. Domestic use of wheat grain continued to be highest in New South Wales at 201 thousand tonnes for the month of January 2009.
The main exporting state continued to be Western Australia (792 thousand tonnes) followed by New South Wales (236 thousand tonnes) for the month of January 2009.
WHEAT GRAIN COMMITTED
At 31 January 2009, there were 4.8 million tonnes committed, i.e. under contract for domestic use within Australia or for export. This represented an increase of 43.9% from the December estimate.
Of the total wheat grain committed in Australia, 3.3 million tonnes (69.0%) were contracted for export, and 1.5 million tonnes (31.0%) were contracted for domestic use.