February 1, 2011

GrainCorp's 2010-11 grain receivables up 5.6% on-week

Receivals of winter grains, mostly wheat, into GrainCorp Ltd.'s network from a rain-delayed and disrupted harvest in Australia's eastern states rose to 13.3 million tonnes in the week ended Monday (Jan 31).

It exceeded its previous guidance, the company reported in a weekly harvest update.

The intake of winter grains rose by about 700,000 tonnes in the past week compared with 300,000 tonnes in the previous week, the company said Monday (Jan 31).

GrainCorp previously advised it expected to receive 10-13 million tonnes of grain into its system in this fiscal year ending September 30.

The company provided no comment in this week's harvest report, the last it will issue for the current season.

The annual harvest of winter grains, mostly wheat, is running about a month behind schedule in eastern Australia due to heavy rains as crops ripened in November and December. This resulted in considerable quantities of wheat downgraded to feed grade and lower quality food grade from hard milling wheat and barley to feed grade from malting grade, which has supported domestic and global cereal prices.

Harvest operations continue in southwest Victoria state, but with relatively low tonnages involved.