NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
July 2011	26 August 2011
August 2011 September 2011	27 September 2011 26 October 2011

ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION

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

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.


KEY POINTS

At the end of June 2011, Australia's bulk storage of wheat grain was estimated at 13.4 million tonnes. This represents a decrease of around 2.0 million tonnes (13%) of wheat grain stored when compared to May 2011. Stocks of wheat grain were up by 3.5 million tonnes (35%) on the June 2010 total.

All states reported decreases in stocks of wheat grain compared to May 2011. Although New South Wales and South Australia had the most significant falls with 574 thousand tonnes and 512 thousand tonnes respectively, both of these states held the largest amounts of wheat grain stored in June 2011. New South Wales had 4.9 million tonnes and South Australia held 3.2 million tonnes.

The impact of heavy rain in Western Australia and Queensland over the year has led to lower storage levels compared to June 2010. Western Australia's wheat grain stored decreased by 45% to 2 million tonnes from June 2010, while Queensland fell by 5% over the year, down to 578 thousand tonnes.

The poor season and difficult harvest conditions continued to contribute to a lower quality yield of wheat grain in June 2011. Of the total wheat grain stored by bulk grain handlers, milling grade accounted for 7.3 million tonnes (54%) and feed grade 6.1 million tonnes (46%). This compares to 87% (8.6 million tonnes) for milling and 13% (1.2 million tonnes) for feed in June 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)
	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
	April	6 169	3 162	838	4 229	2 909	17 307	9 487	7 820
	May	5 509	2 912	772	3 747	2 355	15 295	8 354	6 941
	June	4 935	2 556	578	3 235	2 061	13 365	7 254	6 111
(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.