Australian 24/25 winter crop reaches 60mmt, Barley production over 13mmt: Abares reports

ABARES’ March 2025 report has Australia’s Winter crop forecast at nearly 60mmt, the third highest on record, with Western Australia and NSW both exceeding 20mmt of production. This is a 10% increase over it’s forecast in December on the back of timely rain in Western Australia and mild harvest conditions nationally.

The agency has Barley production at 13.3mmt, the fifth largest on record and well above the 5-year average of 12mmt, with nearly half of the crop being harvested in Western Australia. Malting selection rates were very high along the East coast, average in the West and below average in the South East, where conditions were challenging.

With Abares final Crop 24/25 report published and all Bulk Handlers posting their final receival reports for this season, an estimation of where the grain is stored follows:

These estimates indicate approximately 60% of the 24/25 crop is stored in the bulk handling systems and 40% privately. This is close to the estimates made for the 23/24 crop, which was 56% in bulk handler storage and 44% held privately. Regionally, the East stores 2/3 of the crop privately, South Australia has ~40% stored privately and in the West, just 12% is stored outside of the CBH handling system.