Australia's GrainCorp Ltd. on Tuesday unveiled details of collective sales pools it will offer wheat, barley and rapeseed growers for crops to be harvested by year-end.

The company, which operates a network of upcountry grain storage facilities and a string of coastal export terminals in eastern Australia, will manage a total of nine separate pools for these crops grown in Western Australia and South Australia states - and jointly for the three eastern states.

Among the pools' features are an advance on delivery of 65 percent, harvest loans covering 70 percent of delivery, variable payment options, increments for wheat pool returns for protein, moisture and small grain, updates of estimated returns every two weeks during harvest and full transparency of costs and management fees.

All major Australia grain companies are offering growers collective sales pools, which can spread risk of price movements over a period of a year or more.

Managing Director Mark Irwin said the final return on GrainCorp's barley pool from the 2007 crop "was significantly higher" than cash prices at harvest.

The company's corporate affairs manager, David Ginns, said each of the three distinct geographic areas covered by the separate pools have a different freight profile, so the pools and growers can capture the particular freight advantages that exist in particular markets.