THE AUSTRALIAN sorghum crop is set to dip below the million tonne mark for the first time since the early 1990s according to private forecasters.
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In its February crop report the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) flagged the sorghum crop at 1.2 million tonnes, already the lowest figure for close to 20 years, however analysts now believe that figure is too high.
Peter McMeekin, Nidera Australia origination manager, said there were a number of crop estimates of a sorghum harvest of less than a million tonnes out there.
This follows a 2015-16 sorghum harvest estimated by ABARES at 2mt.
Mr McMeekin said lower plantings and an inclement summer were to blame for the drop in production.
“At the start of the season the sorghum price was not fantastic and it lost acres to cotton, so plantings were down to begin with, and then there has been a hot and dry summer.”
“Although there has been sporadic rainfall it has been storm driven and very patchy.”
Andrew Jurgs, commodity trader with Emerald Grain in Toowoomba, said he believed there would be a crop of between 900,000 and one million tonnes.
He said the fact there was this much sorghum about was a testament both to farming practices and to modern sorghum varieties.
“The heat has wreaked havoc with the crop all across the place,” he said.
“I would expect most of the sorghum there is to come out of the central and southern Darling Downs and the Liverpool Plains where there have been more frequent storms.”
Mr Jurgs said test weight and screenings had been an issue for sorghum producers.
“Around 25pc of the crop at a rough guess looks to be making Sorghum 2 quality, primarily on the back of test weights below the 71 kilograms a hectolitre required for Sorghum 1.”
“Again, this probably is not that bad a result given the heat and lack of rain.”
Warra, north-west of Dalby, farmer and AgForce grains council director Brendan Taylor said the storms had not been widespread enough.
“The yields have varied from average to well and truly below.”
He said there had been very little general rainfall across south-eastern Queensland over the summer.
“We have had two lots of 50mm in the past few weeks which may be useful for the winter crop, but it was too late for the sorghum, which is just about totally harvested in this area.”
He said there was a lot of low test weight sorghum in his area, due to the tough growing conditions.
Gregor Heard
Gregor Heard is ACM's national grains industry reporter, based in Horsham, Victoria. He has a wealth of knowledge surrounding the cropping sector through his 15 years in the role. Prior to that he was with the Fairfax network as a reporter with Stock & Land. Some of the major issues he has reported on during his time with the company include the deregulation of the export wheat market, the introduction of genetically modified crops and the fight to protect growers better from grain trader insolvencies. Still involved with the family farm he is passionate about rural Australia and its people and hopes to use his role to act as an advocate for those involved in the grain sector.
Gregor Heard is ACM's national grains industry reporter, based in Horsham, Victoria. He has a wealth of knowledge surrounding the cropping sector through his 15 years in the role. Prior to that he was with the Fairfax network as a reporter with Stock & Land. Some of the major issues he has reported on during his time with the company include the deregulation of the export wheat market, the introduction of genetically modified crops and the fight to protect growers better from grain trader insolvencies. Still involved with the family farm he is passionate about rural Australia and its people and hopes to use his role to act as an advocate for those involved in the grain sector.
