CBH Group’s Kwinana terminal is a major grain exporter, and is supplied largely by grain delivered by rail. Photo: Fremantle Ports

AUSTRALIA’S biggest co-operative and Western Australian bulk handler, CBH Group, has set a record in its financial year to 30 September, 2019 by moving 8.9 million tonnes (Mt) of grain to port terminals by rail.

The figure was announced this week with the company’s annual report, and follows the release last month of its financial report for FY19.

CBH Group receivals for the 2018/19 harvest were a near-record 16.4Mt, which included 6Mt moved in the Kwinana Zone alone to the Kwinana Grain Terminal for bulk export.

“A total of 13.8Mt was shipped from our four grain terminals, with the Kwinana Grain Terminal shipping 6.2Mt tonnes of grain,” the company said in a statement.

“This was only 30,000 tonnes shy of the shipping record set in 2016-17.”

CBH Fertiliser achieved its biggest year to date, with sales in 2018-19 totalling 103,000t, up from 90,000t in 2017-18.

“The business remains profitable and has retained surplus capital to expand the business further across the network.”

During the reporting period, the co-operative invested more than $1.6M million into regional grain-growing communities in WA through the Community Investment Fund.

This included the Grass Roots Leadership Short Course, which was introduced for the first time in 2019 with a total of 76 participants, and more than $300,000 was provided to community groups as part of the Grass Roots grants program.

The annual report has been released ahead of CBH Group’s annual general meeting in Perth on 20 February.

Source: CBH Group