Supply and use of Australian grains and pulses
Grains
- Around 80% of wheat, barley and rice produced in Australia is exported.
- More than 75% of wheat is exported to more than 40 countries, making it
the third largest exporter of wheat in the world, after the USA and Canada.
- Australian wheat has a reputation in export markets for being clean (free
from pests and contamination), white-grained, dry and suited to many end products.
- More than one million tonnes of wheat a year is exported to countries such
as Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Korea, Pakistan and Japan where 40% of exports
end up in flat breads such as pita bread and lavash, around 24% is used in
yellow alkaline noodles, 9% in white salted noodles, 11% in pan bread and
about 5% in steamed buns.
- About 23% of wheat produced in Australia is for domestic use - 10% for
human and industrial uses, 10% for animal feed and 3% is used for seed. A
third of wheat is used for pan bread and the rest for the manufacture of noodles,
cakes, pasta, starch and gluten.
- About 80% of barley is exported (more than 50% for animal feed and the
rest for malting barley).
- Domestic use of barley is mainly as stock feed, with only about 8% used
as malt for human consumption.
- Oats, maize, sorghum and triticale are mostly used by domestic markets,
particularly as stock feed.
- Although oats are mainly fed to livestock as a supplement to pasture in
times of seasonal feed shortage, an increasing amount of oats are being grown
for human consumption (mainly in breakfast foods) due to consumer interest
in the cholesterol-lowering benefits of oat bran (for both domestic and export
markets).
- A small amount of maize is also used for human consumption (breakfast foods,
starch and cornflour).
Pulses
- More than 70% of the Australian pulse crop is exported to over 35 countries.
- The largest buyers of Australian pulses are India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
These large pulse producing countries import Australian pulses to fill shortfalls
in local production, either because their crops are not ready for harvest
or because their stocks are low.
- Australia is a leading exporter of lupins, the second largest exporter
of chickpeas and the third largest of field peas.
- More than 50% of lupins is exported to the Middle East and Europe for human
consumption, but it is also exported worldwide as animal feed.
- 90% of field peas are exported as animal feed, but also for human consumption
to countries such as Malaysia and India.
- Lupins and field peas are widely used as stock feed for poultry and pigs
in Australia.
- 75% of chickpeas are exported for human consumption to India, Pakistan
and Bangladesh. The pale and creamy Kabuli chickpea is exported to the Middle
East, Sri Lanka, India and Mediterranean countries.
- India imports large amounts of chickpeas, lentils and field peas for human
consumption.
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