Sorghum Harvest Update

By Scott McNickle
10^th February 2025

Sorghum harvest has been well underway in Queensland for a few weeks now with ideal harvesting conditions seen in the Southern and Western Queensland areas.  In most areas the weather has been on our side with only a few isolated showers and thunderstorms received with minimal impact to the harvest. With the early crop growers finished and the headers are back in the shed, some growers with sorghum crops planted in August has produced yields of around 4.5 tonne to the hectare. Growers that are still harvesting on the Darling Downs are reporting on average yields between 8 to 10 tonnes to the hectare. The quality of the crop has seen good standards reported for SOR with test weight up to 82% in some cases. Only small amounts of SOR2 reported so far with minimal amounts of sprouting in some growing areas. Sorghum price is holding up around $350/t delivered Brisbane while the delivered Downs is trading around $320/t. Back in December ABARES forecast Australia’s 2024/2025 Sorghum crop at 2.1 million tonnes, which is slightly below the 2023 /2024 crop of 2.215mt. This was mostly because of the larger winter crop that was planted.   

Wheat and Barley have been slow to move off farm, instead of making space for their summer crop growers have found themselves leaving it in on farm storge and marketing their sorghum delivered or track. A few growers with a later sorghum and beans crop are looking for 25mm of rain to help finish them off. Majority of growers have around 75 to 80 percent of their winter crop profile now full, hoping for 30mm in early April to set them up for a strong winter crop plant again.   Cotton in most growing areas looks great and with decent warm days and enough water to finish off the crop in most parts, the price sitting around $600 or better. Some dryland areas would like to receive 25 to 30mm of rainfall to carry them through. On the production front current crop prospects suggest a yield exceeding 5 million bales, marking is another strong season. This reinforces Australia's standing as a key exporter of high-quality cotton, supported by an efficient and reliable supply chain that remains the envy of our competitors.  

US grain futures all finished lower on Friday on month-end positioning and profit taking as the market braced for US import tariffs which were expected to be announced over the weekend by President Donald Trump. Trump announced import tariffs on Saturday of 25% on Mexico and Canada, and 10% on imports from China which will likely create more volatility this week. East Coast cash wheat markets were generally stronger last week with further tightening of grade spreads with nearby ASW demand remaining strong. Sorghum also kicked a few dollars with SOR1 delivered BNE and NCL pushing back up above $350 and above $355, respectively. BAR1 bids were also a touch firmer dragged higher by stronger wheat values and slow grower selling. East Coast canola port bids were around $25/t lower last week pressured by weaker EU rapeseed futures.