Australia enjoys a strong reputation as a high-quality oat producer and our oats are used both domestically and internationally for food and food products, hay, animal feed and seed.
Widely recognised for their nutritional health benefits, Australian milling oats are also renowned for their high quality, excellent taste and aroma, and ease of processing.
Production
According to ABARES, Australian grain growers planted almost 700,000 hectares of oat crops in 2023 and will produce around 1.1 million metric tonnes for the year. Over a five-year average to 2020, Australia produced around 1.4 million metric tonnes of oats per year*. Western Australia is consistently the state producing the largest amount of oats in Australia.
Oats milled in Australia are used to meet domestic consumption and export needs. In 2020 over 250,000 tonnes of oats were milled domestically*. Oats are also retained on farm for animal feed and used in domestic production of compound animal feed.
Oats are also grown to produce hay for domestic and export animal feed markets. This versatility in end use provides some growers with the opportunity to sell their crop into either or both markets.
Exports
Australian oat exports have been increasing over time and we are the second largest oat exporting nation, accounting for around 10-15% of global trade, behind Canada which dominates 75% of global trade.
Australia exports both raw oats and processed oats (also known as milled oats or oat products). The volume of raw oat exported from Australia varies from around 250,000 tonnes to 500,000 tonnes per year depending on growing and market conditions.
Find out more about Australian oats at the Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre (AEGIC).
*2021, AEGIC, Opportunities and risks for the Australian oats industry