CBH Harvest Report - Emergency storage getting utilised

By: "Farm Tender" News
Cattle News
Dec 16, 2018
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After two weeks of peak receivals, daily tonnages started to reduce across the state towards the end of this week as some grower’s harvest programs come to an end.

“We have been seeing good tonnages in all zones during the last two weeks, and the Kwinana zone is on track for a potentially record-breaking harvest,” said General Manager Operations, David Capper.

“Before harvest we built one million tonnes of emergency storage at several strategic sites which have been well utilised and are now starting to fill,” said Mr Capper.

Road and rail are coming under pressure now to move grain to port to meet the demanding summer shipping program, which is fully booked for all of December and the first half of January.

ALBANY

The stop and start nature of harvest has continued in the Albany zone this week with a couple of minor rain delays experienced. Despite this the zone received 550,000 tonnes for the week taking total receivals to 1.8 million tonnes. As a comparison to the same time last year the zone had received 2.3 million tonnes.

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“Quality so far has been good with 50% of the million tonnes of barley received making malt grades. For wheat the protein overall has been above earlier expectations, although there is evidence of lower falling numbers and some downgrading as a result of rain during the harvest period,” said Albany Zone Manager, Greg Thornton.

“Growers to the north and east of the zone are starting to complete programs with the majority of harvest in these areas expected to be completed by Christmas. Shipping for December remains strong and we will switch our accumulation at country sites from barley to wheat in the coming week,” said Mr Thornton.

ESPERANCE

The Esperance Zone has had another weather-affected week of harvest although many growers have now finished and are finalising their deliveries.

“We will start to close sites in the next couple of weeks as deliveries dry up – Dunn Rock will be the first and is scheduled to close today,” said Esperance Zone Manager Mick Daw.

GERALDTON

Geraldton Zone is still seeing strong tonnages received with the total tonnage reaching three million tonnes this week. This is significantly more than the 2.5 million tonne original estimate at the beginning of harvest.

“We are seeing a bit of pressure and frustration at some sites due to available storage space, but we are working very hard to where possible, keep services alive and keep deliveries efficient for growers,” said Geraldton Zone Manager Duncan Gray.

KWINANA

The Kwinana Zone had another good harvesting week receiving 1.4 million tonnes bringing the total for the season to 6.3 million tonnes.

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“Growers in the north and east of the zone are starting to finish their programs and some sites in these areas will close for the season. With a good run heading into Christmas the zone will be very close to our estimate for the season within the next week,” said Kwinana Assistant Zone Manager Allan Walker.

MARKET UPDATE

As harvest moves into the last few weeks with just over 13 million tonnes received, the trade are now strongly focused on executing existing business, with the Western Australian shipping stem showing more than two million tonnes to be shipped up until the middle of January 2019.

Barley

Barley market has continued to see growers selling as the trade covers their harvest and January requirements. Malting percentage still remains good with above 35% of receivals meeting malting specifications. Prices remain above A$300 per tonne free in store with feed barley trading in the range of A$310-$315 per tonne free in store and malting trading a A$10 per tonne premium. Receivals are now well over four million tonnes in Western Australia, however, with a deficit internationally and good demand from the east coast there is interest at these values.

Canola

The canola harvest is more or less complete with most growers now on their cereals. Prices have remained stable throughout the program based on relatively good European demand as well as some interest from the east coast. This week we saw values in the range of A$575 - $580 per tonne free in store with reasonable selling from growers with remaining tonnages.

Wheat

The market continues to focus on protein with approximately 40% of the crop being low protein. This is resulting in the market paying a significant premium of up A$40 per tonne above APW1 for Australian Hard varieties, traditionally this premium is around A$10 per tonne. This has seen Australian Hard at values above A$400 per tonne free in store. APW1 prices continued to remain firm at levels between $365 – $370 per tonne free in store. East coast interest has remained flat as end users focus on the local harvest in their respective regions, however, the market is starting to see some export interest from Asia. Growers have been active sellers of wheat this past week as a result of relatively strong prices and coming towards the end of their programs.

https://www.cbh.com.au/