Viterra’s Ned Djakovic and Boris Sic at Viterra’s Outer Harbor port acknowledge the shipping of 1Mt across its SA ports in Oct-Nov. Photo: Viterra

GROWER deliveries into Viterra’s network slowed in the week to December 3 to 291,546 tonnes, down from 688,241 in the previous week, the bulk handler said in its Weekly Harvest Report out yesterday.

Total receivals into Viterra’s South Australian sites, and its two in far western Victoria, now stand at 4.4 million tonnes (Mt).

Wheat made up more than half of all commodities delivered in the week to December 3.

Viterra general manager supply chain Derek Robjohns said the company’s port terminals have loaded more than 1Mt of grain for export in the past two months.

“This is the first time in more than 10 years we’ve loaded over 1 million tonnes during October and November,” Mr Robjohns said.

Table 1: Deliveries for the 2023-24 harvest to December 3. Source: Viterra

Viterra Western region operations manager Nick Pratt said it was a slower receivals week last week due to the rain, and harvest starting to wrap up in some districts.

“Some growers were frustrated about the rain slowing their harvest,” Mr Pratt said.

“We supported customers by opening our sites for moisture tests to see when they could start harvesting again.”

“Our main sites still seeing activity are Cummins, Port Lincoln and Tumby Bay, while Port Neill and Kapinnie are receiving smaller quantities of pulses.

“Most sites further afield are winding down with sites closing, cleaning up, or preparing for fumigation as part of our food-safety and quality-management process.”

Mr Pratt said the region saw cargoes depart from its two ports last week.

“We completed vessels at Port Lincoln and Thevenard and began loading another shipment at Port Lincoln.”

Viterra Central region operations manager Jack Tansley said the region saw a reduction in deliveries towards the weekend.

“The busiest receival sites during the week were Roseworthy, Gladstone, Saddleworth, Port Giles, Snowtown and Bowmans,” Mr Tansley said.

“Deliveries reduced as the wet weather set in, with growers getting back into harvesting on the weekend.

“We estimate that growers in the Central region are around two-thirds through their harvests.

“Most growers are harvesting wheat, with a few still on beans and finishing up the remaining barley and canola.”

Central region exported its first new-crop cargo from Port Giles last week, 10,000t of wheat bound for an end-user customer.

The Eastern region took the most deliveries across all regions, and its operations manager Andrew Cannon said receivals increased later in the week.

“As conditions improved later in the week and into the weekend, we saw an increase in grain receivals across our sites,” Mr Cannon said.

He estimates growers in the Eastern region are about halfway through harvest.

“The northern Mallee harvest is coming towards the end, while deliveries in the south east are continuing to build.”

Source: Viterra