THE new year brings a new-look hay market, one producers are happy to say is dramatically different to last year.
New markets are opening for lucerne hay and hay buyers are struggling to find the hay they thought was available.
For the first time, hay exporters are buying lucerne hay for markets in North Asia.
The lucerne market in Japan and South Korea is traditionally supplied from the US west coast.
This season the US has suffered a wide-reaching drought that has caused a $US100 a tonne lift in imported lucerne values in North Asia.
With these price rises, and despite the strong Australian dollar, Victorian hay exporters are able to be competitive with lucerne hay.
This market opportunity has come at a good time for both growers and exporters.
Ready markets off the baler have not been easy to find for lucerne producers in the past year.
Lucerne producers in the west Wimmera region such as Frances and Apsley have been favoured source areas for this trade.
The expanded area to irrigated lucerne in the Murray and Goulburn valleys has the potential to move to export plants as well.
Exporters will need to actively compete with chaff mills, which have been paying as much as $300 a tonne on farm.
Some vetch producers consider the expanding lucerne production a threat and are happy to sell about $200 on farm.
Increasingly vetch hay sellers are asking for $220.
The new markets for lucerne are welcomed by hay exporters. Availability of exportable oaten hay is well down this season because of the smaller area sown last autumn.
Industry estimates suggest the oaten hay area cut in Victoria this season was only half that of previous year.
Lucerne is offering a new product to provide valuable throughput through export plants and to maintain market share for the Australian hay product.
The new-look hay market is also surprising a few hay buyers.
Pasture hay values have been buoyed to $150 a tonne on farm around Hamilton by the lack of supply.
Beef and dairy farmers in southwest Victoria have last year's low hay prices firmly in mind and are struggling to accept the higher values.
Pasture hay supplies have been challenged this season by some drier conditions last spring and a lack of interest from producers despondent with the lacklustre hay market last season.
Beef producers, who are traditional buyers of high-quality cereal hay at this time, have been also caught short this season.
Their usual suppliers of oaten hay from properties between Goornong and Echuca are fully committed to hay exporters.
These buyers will need to work much harder to source and buy the hay.
