BETTER weather conditions in most areas of Western Australia last week have allowed growers to make good progress on their harvest programs, with the CBH Group receiving about 60 per cent of estimated deliveries as of Friday, December 1.

Geraldton in the north is close to wrapping up, having received 99pc of estimated grain delivered so far, while growers to the north and east of the Kwinana zone will start finishing harvest soon.

The Esperance zone in the south has received more than 60pc of estimated deliveries, while Albany is at 44pc cent and Kwinana is at 59pc.

CBH general manager operations David Capper said quality levels generally had been good in all zones.

“While most areas have received at least two significant rainfall events so far during harvest grain quality has not been adversely affected for the majority of the crop,” Mr Capper said.

“The frequent wet weather patches continue to be a feature in this year’s harvest, and it still does with more rain forecast in many areas in the coming week.”

Albany zone

Albany zone has received 625,000 tonnes in the past week taking total receivals for the year to 1.33 million tonnes (Mt).  This is in comparison to 1.1Mt received this time last year.

The majority of grain received continues to be canola and barley. Wheat receivals are starting to pick up with 155,000t received to date.

Grain quality continues to be good with canola oil averaging 47pc and an increasing percentage of malt barley being received.  Wheat deliveries have been spread evenly across all segregations.

“Deliveries have slowed as a result of moisture issues but we expect them to ramp up again once conditions improve,” Albany zone manager Greg Thornton said.

Esperance zone

Yet again another frustrating week with weather in the Esperance zone following excellent conditions late last week.

“We received record tonnes over the weekend with over 100,000t being received on both days across the zone. Also, we saw daily receivals records at Shark Lake, Cascades and Grass Patch,” Esperance zone manager Mick Daw said.

“On Monday last week we received rain across the zone which slowed things up.  For the week we took 414,000t to take the total received to 1.75Mt.”

Geraldton zone

Geraldton zone by Friday had received a total of 1.16Mt, of which 321,713t was received in the week.

Next week CBH will consider Binnu, Yuna, Arrino, Perenjori, while Morawa has already closed.

Kwinana Zone

The Kwinana Zone by Friday had received 2.9Mt of all grains with 1.2Mt coming in the last week. The zone has now received 56 per cent of its estimated tonnes across the zone.

Canola and barley receivals are starting to slow down with wheat now being the majority of receivals. Quality in the wheat has generally been very good given the amount of rain in some areas.

“Good harvesting conditions have seen good tonnages come in over the last week and if we get another good week some growers in the north and east will be finishing their programs,” assistant zone manager Allan Walker said.

Market Update

Western Australian growers continued to sell feed barley last week straight off the harvester as prices stayed firm around $250 per tonne free in store (FIS) Kwinana port zone.

Malt barley end-user interest is now being seen as there is potential for quality issues across Australia’s eastern seaboard as a result of heavy rainfall across barley growing regions.

The rainfall across the eastern seaboard may also impact wheat quality and as a result grade spreads between APW and feed wheat are expected to increase as potentially higher supplies of feed become available.

International demand for Australian wheat is relatively quiet for this time of year as a number of markets continue to absorb shipments of Black Sea wheat.

Also, growers have not been aggressive sellers, with APW prices remaining in the $270/t FIS.

Canola selling remains active in the range of $545-550/t FIS with growers selling straight off their harvesters at what are quite attractive numbers. This is backed with good demand from European crushers as well as Asian interest.

Source: CBH