Australia's ABB grain builds wheat export business

ABB Grain Ltd. has emerged as one of Australia's major wheat exporters following deregulation of export arrangements on July 1, 2008, Peter Jones, the company's general manager marketing, said Tuesday (April 7).

The company has established 30 export wheat customers in 14 countries, mostly in Asia but also including United Arab Emirates, Japan, Italy, Saudi Arabia and Pacific Island nations, he said in a briefing statement.

More than 500,000 tonnes of bulk wheat have been exported to some of Asia's biggest flour mills since the market was liberalized, building on an existing export trade of wheat in containers, he said without providing further details.

Managing Director Michael Iwaniw also said a new plant being developed to process malt barley at Minto near Sydney has been designed with intent to capture future demand growth in Asia, where the malt market has grown in a range 5 to 9 percent a year over the past three years.

The 108,000 tonnes annual capacity Minto plant will be completed by the end of 2010 and increase the annual capacity of ABB Grain's Joe White Malting unit to 608,000 tonnes, he said.