NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
April 2011	3 June 2011
May 2011	1 July 2011
June 2011	28 July 2011

ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION

This publication provides estimates of stocks of wheat, barley, and selected other grains and pulses held by bulk grain handlers. These estimates are compiled from the Grain Handlers Stocks Survey (GHSS) conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

In addition to the monthly wheat estimates, quarterly estimates for barley and selected other grains and pulses are available in a separate data cube from the 'Downloads' tab of this publication.

Stocks of barley and other grains and pulses were not updated for the December 2010 quarter. Updated estimates for the March 2011 quarter appear in this March 2011 issue, after which further updates will not be published. The publication of monthly data on stocks of wheat grain held by bulk handlers will continue unchanged.

For more detailed information on wheat use and stocks, see Wheat Use and Stocks, Australia (cat. no. 7307.0).

The ABS welcomes any comments from readers regarding the usefulness, range and quality of the statistics presented in this publication. Comments can be forwarded to: Environment and Agriculture Business Statistics Centre, Australian Bureau of Statistics, GPO Box 66, Hobart TAS 7001. Alternatively, email: agriculture.statistics@abs.gov.au, or phone (03) 6222 5939.


EFFECT OF FLOODS

Extensive flooding began in late December 2010 in Queensland and was more wide spread in both Queensland and other states in January 2011. While these floods affected the wheat harvest in some areas, impacts on the total stocks of wheat grain held by bulk grain handlers cannot be determined. The quality of wheat grain harvested has been affected by the recent weather events even though the total volume of wheat grain harvested is higher than in previous years.



KEY POINTS

By the end of March 2011 the wheat grain harvest was complete. Australia's bulk storage of wheat grain was estimated at 18.7 million tonnes. This represents a decrease of around 1.6 million tonnes (8%) of wheat grain stored when compared to February 2011. Stocks of wheat grain are up by 33% compared to March 2010.

All states reported decreases in stocks of wheat grain compared to February 2011. South Australia was the most significant with 516 thousand tonnes (10%). New South Wales and South Australia had the largest amounts of wheat grain stored by bulk grain handlers with 6.7 million tonnes and 4.6 million tonnes respectively.

The wet harvest season has contributed to a lower quality yield of wheat grain and this has continued from February into March 2011. Of the total wheat grain stored by bulk grain handlers, milling grade accounted for 10.3 million tonnes (55%) and feed grade 8.5 million tonnes (45%). This compares to 86% for milling and 14% for feed in March 2010.

STOCKS OF WHEAT GRAIN STORED BY BULK GRAIN HANDLERS, at month end
		WHEAT GRAIN STORED BY STATE						WHEAT GRAIN STORED BY GRADE(a)
		NSW(b)	Vic.(c)	Qld	SA	WA	Aust.	Milling	Feed
		'000 t	'000 t	'000 t	'000 t	'000 t	'000 t	'000 t	'000 t
2009 -10(d)
	March	2 951	1 450	940	3 475	5 252	14 068	12 133	1 935
	April	2 667	1 301	821	3 178	4 803	12 770	11 043	1 727
	May	2 238	1 137	694	2 895	4 186	11 150	9 729	1 421
	June	1 997	986	608	2 566	3 727	9 884	8 642	1 242
	July	1 451	678	457	2 177	3 137	7 900	7 025	875
	August	1 351	603	397	1 723	2 613	6 687	5 938	749
	September(d)	972	487	320	1 393	1 943	5 115	4 530	585
2010 -11(d)
	October	567	300	193	898	1 482	3 440	3 066	374
	November	2 687	218	1 105	906	3 534	8 450	6 316	2 134
	December	5 974	2 048	1 217	4 044	4 927	18 210	11 308	6 902
	January	7 825	3 426	1 150	5 415	4 346	22 162	12 468	9 694
	February	7 010	3 343	1 066	5 105	3 847	20 371	11 551	8 820
	March	6 661	3 085	929	4 589	3 476	18 740	10 280	8 460
(a) Wheat grain is graded by quality.
(b) Includes ACT.
(c) Includes Tas.
(d) The end of September is used to represent the closing stocks of wheat grain prior to the commencement of the next harvest period (October to September).

INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.