Viterra Wudinna employees Graham Walters, Paul Young and Elijah Oswald after their record-breaking day of receivals. Photo: Viterra

GROWERS in eastern states and South Australia have delivered 8.99 million tonnes (Mt) of grain to the GrainCorp and Viterra networks combined this harvest, according to the latest weekly harvest reports from both bulk handlers.

Viterra’s South Australian network and two sites in far western Victoria received more than 1.5Mt of grain in the week to Sunday, making it the biggest intake week since the 2010-11 harvest.

This lifted deliveries into Viterra sites for the harvest to Sunday to 2.6Mt, while GrainCorp has now taken in 6.4Mt for the current harvest after receiving 1.8Mt in the week to Monday.

Fine weather boosts volume

Viterra operations manager Michael Hill said it was great to see growers have the opportunity to get their grain into storage with a good run of warmer weather.

“Receivals were highest mid-week and on Wednesday we received over 250,000t, which is our largest day since the 2017-18 harvest,” Mr Hill said.

Some Viterra sites saw their busiest ever day last week, with Wudinna breaking its record and Edillilie and Monarto South beating theirs two days in a row.

Mr Hill said some sites have been staying open until midnight to allow growers to keep delivering, and that Viterra was also focused on moving grain to support its busy shipping schedule.

This stepped up the pace last week, with a vessel loading at each of Viterra’s Inner Harbour, Port Lincoln, Thevenard, and Wallaroo terminals.

Viterra operations manager for the Western Region Nick Pratt said all areas of the region have now commenced harvest.

“We’re seeing large deliveries of all commodities and will continue to work closely with growers to offer opening hours that suit their needs as we head into another week of good weather,” Mr Pratt said.

“Last week, we opened up the Port Lincoln delivery line for all growers to deliver wheat, (feed) barley and non-GM canola. This has received positive feedback from growers who are choosing to access port-based pricing.”

Sites in Viterra’s Central Region received the most grain last week, and its operations manager Jack Tansley said Ardrossan, Port Giles and Wallaroo have been the top three receival sites across the network so far this harvest.

“All sites in the Central Region are now receiving after our Jamestown, Saddleworth and Eudunda sites all received their first load last week as local growers made the most of the ideal harvesting conditions.”

Viterra Operations Manager for the Adelaide region Neil Carr said growers delivered strong volumes of faba beans along with canola and lentils into Inner Harbour.

“We stayed open until 10pm most nights to enable growers to continue with their harvesting throughout the evening,” Mr Carr said.

Viterra operations manager for the Eastern Region Jo Klitscher said the region is seeing deliveries of all commodities, with canola deliveries being very high.

“Conversations with growers indicate they are really happy with the yields they have been getting on their canola,” Ms Klitscher said.

“High yields mixed with the strong prices for canola this season is putting growers in a great position, which is always good to see.”