Australia's CBH passes export milestones from bumper harvest

 

 

Grower-owned Cooperative Bulk Handling Ltd. has just posted or is about to pass some significant milestones for what could be the second biggest harvest of winter grains on record in Western Australia, a spokeswoman said Thursday (January 15).

 

Late Tuesday, CBH loaded for export its one millionth tonne of new crop grain - mostly wheat - from a rain-delayed harvest that is about 92 percent complete, she said.

 

CBH has accounted for more than 50 percent of all grain exports from Western Australia's new crop, with the state's wheat crop the first since World War II to be marketed under deregulated export arrangements, she added.

 

"Growers have really backed GrainPool in a big way," said GrainPool's senior trading manager, Josh Roberts, referring to CBH's marketing unit.

 

The company has a long track record and well established customer history in exporting barley, lupins and canola and has been able to power along with this trade, possibly even increasing market share, he said.

 

"With wheat, where we're starting off a low base, we've really just come out of the blocks in this first year very strongly, and achieved significant market share, the equivalent or more of all the others combined," he said.

 

Roberts isn't surprised at GrainPool's strong growth and dominant presence in the wheat export trade from the state, as CBH had prepared for the deregulated environment and set aggressive targets.

 

"We expected to do well and we're pleased, we're doing well," he said.

 

As well, next Monday, GrainPool expects to reach the A$1 billion mark in payments to growers for new crop grain either bought for cash or committed to CBH' collective sales pools, said the spokeswoman.

 

As for the harvest, with 92 percent of the expected overall harvest complete, receivals by CBH could reach or even exceed the second biggest harvest intake of 12.53 million tonnes in the 2005-06 crop year, she said.

 

Strong deliveries to CBH's upcountry storage facilities and Albany Port export terminal likely will continue in the southern zone through next week, with the harvest in this zone now only 81 percent complete, she said.

 

Elsewhere, the harvest is all but done, but in CBH's northern Geraldtonne zone, receivals now have matched a record 2.58 million tonnes set in the 2005-06 crop year and will exceed that by a little in coming weeks, she said.

 

CBH's 2008-09 harvest intake is already well above the 2007-08 harvest of 8.5 million tonnes but down from a record of 14.7 million tonnes in 2003-04. About 70 percent of the total is usually wheat and 20 percent barley, with the balance mostly lupins, canola and oats.

 

CBH doesn't own all the grain it receives for storage and export. Rather, growers warehouse it in the system - some taking advantage of 21 days free warehousing - as they decide where and when to sell it, or assign it to a collective sales pool manager. CBH buys some of the grain for cash. Nearly all the grain produced in the state is exported, making it a major global supplier.