Grain stockpiles at a 30-year low

The world is in no danger of running out of grain, despite the lowest stockpiles in 30 years and concerns about food security.

Australian Farm Institute executive director Mick Keogh said the growing affluence of the developing world and the demand for biofuels, as well as the weather, were behind the substantial price rises in international wheat, dairy and oilseed prices.
The US Agriculture Department estimates that world wheat stocks, at the end of the current crop year, will fall to their lowest level since 1977-78.

Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics chief commodity analyst Terry Sheales said world wheat production was smaller this year than anticipated. Some panic buying had set in, pushing prices up.

Robert Poole, from Australian Dairy Farmers, said there were low world stocks of dairy products, high commodity prices and strong international demand.

“It is going to be this combination of low world stocks and high demand for energy, and the fact that a lot of maize that would have been fed to beef cattle or dairy cattle will now go into ethanol production. These are major changes in the international market place.”

Mr Poole said crucial issues were climate change, the oil price and energy security, which had “a fundamental impact on farm gate prices in a positive sense, and potentially food security and supply in a negative sense”.

The Australian