Viterra Western region Operations Manager Nick Pratt with Strategic Site Committee Chair Mick Dahlitz in front of the new infrastructure at Cummins. Photo: Viterra
MAJOR South Australian bulk handler Viterra has received 45,797 tonnes of grain in the four weeks to Sunday, according to its latest Weekly Harvest Report.
The company received, 36,847t of grain, most of it barley, in the week to Sunday, and reports harvest is now under way across all three regions.
Barley made up the first delivery at Viterra’s Loxton site in the Eastern region on Thursday.
Viterra Eastern region operations manager Jo Klitscher said deliveries were expected to increase in coming weeks.
“We have planned our segregations across sites to maximise the elevation capacity based on what our grower customers plan to deliver, and we’ll continue to work with them throughout harvest to match opening hours to their deliveries.”
Viterra has around 40 buyers in its system purchasing grain for the domestic and export markets.
“Due to the strong demand, we have historically low levels of grain,so we are very well positioned to manage segregations and maximum storage capacity.”
| 19-25 October | Harvest to 25 October | |
| Western region | 25,531 | 28,924 |
| Central region | 10,982 | 16,174 |
| Eastern region | 514 | 699 |
| TONNES | 36,847 | 45,797 |
Table 1: Viterra 2020-21 harvest receivals starting 3 October.
Harvest in the Western region picked up last week as four more sites welcomed their first deliveries.
On Friday, Viterra unveiled an upgrade to its Cummins site on the Lower Eyre Peninsula.
It includes two new classification centres, automatic grain probes, and three fully automated weighbridges.
In the Central region, deliveries accelerated last week as sites including Bute, Bowmans and Roseworthy took in their first loads for this harvest.
Viterra Central region operations manager Jack Tansley said growers were again waiting for the weather to fine up to get back into harvesting.
“Our Port Pirie site extended opening hours to 11pm for a few days last week to give growers the opportunity to take advantage of the good weather before the rain came,” Mr Tansley said.
T-Ports is now taking in grain at its two sites, Lock and Lucky Bay, both on the Eyre Peninsula.
Source: Viterra, T-Ports
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