The AIMI survey of New Zealand cereal growers, as at April 1, 2023 is now available online.
The objectives of this AIMI survey of New Zealand (NZ) cereal growers were to determine, as at April 1, 2023:
- The size of the 2023 New Zealand harvest of wheat, barley and oats (divided into milling/malting and feed crops)
- The sales channels, storage status and unsold amount of the 2023 New Zealand harvest
- The tonnages of carry-over stocks on farms from the 2022 New Zealand harvest
- New Zealand sowings and sowing intentions of wheat, barley and oats (milling, malting and feed) for the autumn and winter of 2023
Key points:
- Overall, harvest yields were up 7% compared with last season (averaged over all six crops). The area harvested was also slightly higher than last season (1% up). The net result was an 8% increases in total tonnage on last season.
- On the survey farms, the 2023 harvests of malting barley, milling oats and feed oats were 100%completed by 1 April, with feed wheat harvest 99.6% complete and milling wheat and feed barley harvests 99% complete.
- Carry-over stocks (both sold and unsold) of feed wheat and feed barley were low on 1 April. Unsold stocks on hand of last year’s feed wheat and feed barley crops were 0.5% and 0.2% of the 2022 harvest tonnages, respectively.
- Stocks of unsold feed wheat from the current harvest are down 20% on unsold stocks at this time last year. Unsold stocks of feed barley are up 47% as compared to this time last year, and unsold stocks of milling wheat are up 34%.
- Autumn/winter sowings of feed wheat are predicted to be similar (down 300 hectares) to predicted sowings a year ago, while feed barley autumn/winter sowings are predicted to be down by 900 ha. Milling wheat autumn/winter sowings are predicted to be up by 1,400 ha, malting barley up by 600 ha, milling oats up 400 ha, and feed oats down 450 ha. However, these predictions are based mostly on intentions, as over all six crops, only 4% (feed wheat and feed barley) had been sown by 1 April 2023.