SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA — Australia’s bulk storage of wheat grain in April 2012 was down 11% to 18.9 million tonnes compared to March, but up 9% compared to the same month a year ago, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said on May 22.

ABS said the continuous decrease of Australia's bulk storage of wheat grain is due to harvest reaching completion in all states in combination with increasing wheat grain exports over the last few months.

All states recorded a decrease in stocks of wheat grain stored in April 2012. The largest fall in stocks of wheat grain stored occurred in Western Australia where a decrease of 789,000 tonnes (or 10%) from the end of March 2012 was recorded.

Western Australia had the largest amount of wheat grain stored with 7.2 million tonnes which was 38% of national stocks. New South Wales (including ACT) was next largest with 5.3 million tonnes which accounted for 28% of national stocks.

Stocks of wheat grain for milling in April 2012 were 13 million tonnes which was 69% of all grain stored. This was a decline of 1.5 million tonnes or 11% since March 2012 and an increase of 3.5 million tonnes, or 37%, compared to April 2011.

At the end of April 2012, feed grade wheat grain stocks were 5.9 million tonnes (31% of all grain stored), which was a decrease of 803,000 (12%) from March 2012. Compared to April 2011 feed grade wheat grain stocks were down by 1.9 million tonnes (25%).