April 21, 2009
Australian grain exporters hail liberalised wheat trade
Despite serious glitches in transporting wheat to port from upcountry storages, the Australian Grain Exporters Association says the industry has performed well selling and shipping the first harvest after export arrangements were liberalized on July 1, 2008.
Contrary to some reports, the huge nation-wide process of harvest, transport, storage, handling and marketing has worked extremely well, Robert Green, the association's president, said in a statement issued late Monday.
Large volumes of wheat have been shipped in bulk and containers since harvest, he said, with official data showing that since October more than 5.2 million tonnes of bulk wheat have been exported by 15 accredited exporters to 35 countries - a testament to the industry's ability to manage marketing and exports in a deregulated environment.
"Australian wheat is in strong demand globally and growers now have more flexible access to a selection of accredited buyers, offering a variety of marketing options," he said.
However, Green acknowledged that while exporters were prepared for deregulation, the transport task to service the excellent demand for Australian wheat was underestimated.
"While there may have been large ship queues and long delays which highlight a need for logistical changes and infrastructure investment, the grain has been efficiently accumulated and marketed, and payments have flowed smoothly," he said.
The fact that Western Australia state's monopoly logistics provider Cooperative Bulk Handling Ltd. shipped a monthly record of 1.54 million tonnes of grain in March demonstrates the new export system works, he said.
That said, "many exporters have experienced long delays and incurred considerable costs so we still have a lot of work to do on the inland supply chain," he added.
To date, CBH has exported 5.0 million tonnes of grain from the 12.3 million tonnes it received from a harvest last crop year ended March 31, and is likely to export record tonnages through to the end of August.
Green said exporters will participate in a process to find a solution to a long-term shipping allocation system across the nation.
More than 20 wheat exporters have been accredited since July 1, replacing a monopoly operated by AWB Ltd.
The Association represents exporters of Australian grains.
