Grain from the current harvest is being railed to ports and domestic consumers. Photo: GrainCorp

DELIVERIES to eastern Australia’s two biggest bulk handlers, GrainCorp and Viterra, have passed a combined total of 14.5 million tonnes (Mt), according to their latest harvest reports.

In the week to Sunday, GrainCorp received 1.55Mt of grain to see it crack the 10Mt barrier for the first time since 2016, when it got to 12Mt.

In its weekly harvest report, GrainCorp said the Queensland harvest was mostly complete, and final receivals were trickling in.

Some rain, storm and heat events had minor impacts on receivals, but GrainCorp reports quality remains consistent.

Harvest in southern NSW and Victoria has progressed well, and some additional storage has opened to accommodate the large volume of receivals.

Table 1: GrainCorp harvest receivals to 7 December 2020.

Rains slows SA harvest

In the Viterra network, receivals slowed slightly in the week to Sunday, and wheat has now far surpassed barley as the main commodity received.

“Deliveries last week were impacted by the cool and wet weather, but sites were still a hub of activity, managing out-turns to both the export and domestic markets, as well as receiving deliveries on the warmer days,” Viterra chief operations officer James Murray said.

Viterra Western region operations manager Nick Pratt said receivals dipped for the region last week.

“Growers struggled to harvest their crops due to high moisture still being present until Thursday and Friday from the previous weekend’s rain,” Mr Pratt said.

“Most of the activity was in the south of the region, with our Port Lincoln and Cummins sites receiving the most tonnes.

“Harvest is nearly complete in a few areas and some of our sites are starting to finish receivals for the year.

“Growers still harvesting are hoping they can be finished before Christmas.”

Viterra Central region operations manager Jack Tansley said most of the region’s deliveries last week happened were made over three days.

“Monday, Thursday and Friday were solid days in the Central region, with 75 per cent of the week’s tonnes received on those days,” Mr Tansley said.

“The majority of volume was into Port Giles, Gladstone, Roseworthy and Wallaroo.”

Viterra Eastern region operations manager Jo Klitscher said another record was broken in the region last week.

“Our Tailem Bend site broke its daily receival record on Monday 30 November, when 17,475t were delivered into the site,” Ms Klitscher said.

“Following on from our busy Monday, we had a relatively slow rest of the week due to the rain.

“We are seeing some growers finish up harvest in the Mallee region, but the rain will probably push back the end of harvest for most other growers.”

Table 2: Viterra harvest receivals to 6 December 2020.

Source: GrainCorp, Viterra