March 7, 2008

West Australia grants further rapeseed export license 

Western Australia's Grain Licensing Authority Friday announced it had granted a special export license covering 30,000 tonnes of rapeseed from the crop harvested late 2007 to a new market for local oilseeds in Europe.

The amount of rapeseed granted in special export licenses from that crop now totals 290,000 tonnes, the agency said.

This covers 44 percent of the state's estimated rapeseed production in 2007 of a drought-reduced 665,000 tonnes.

The authority, which does not disclose further details about licenses it grants, has the power to approve bulk export shipments of barley, lupins or rapeseed by groups other than majority exporter Grain Pool, a unit of grower-owned Cooperative Bulk Handling Ltd., under the Grain Marketing Act of 2002.

This legislation is under review, with a final report due to be delivered to the government by June.