T-Ports’ Wallaroo facility exports cereals and lentils from SA’s Yorke Peninsula. Photo: T-Ports

SOUTH Australian bulk handler T-Ports is lodging a submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in opposition to Viterra’s proposed acquisition of Cargill’s AWB Grainflow assets in South Australia.

The ACCC on October 10 commenced a review under its Informal Merger Review Process Guidelines, and submissions close tomorrow, with December 19 slated as the provisional data of ACCC findings.

AWB Grainflow is a subsidiary of US-based Cargill, and operates a network of 16 grain storages in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and SA, with eight located in SA and western Victoria.

Viterra is owned by global mining and agriculture conglomerate Glencore, Canada Pension Plan’s CPP Investments, and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation.

It owns 48 grain sites in SA, including Outer Harbor and Inner Harbour at Port Adelaide, as well as export terminals in Port Lincoln, Wallaroo, Port Giles and Thevenard, and two up-country sites in western Victoria.

T-Ports is concerned Viterra’s acquisition of the Grainflow’s Maitland site on Yorke Peninsula, Crystal Brook in the Mid North, and Cargill’s mobile shiploader at Port Adelaide will give Viterra a monopoly on up-country YP grain storage, with resultant flow-on effects to Viterra ports.

T-Ports has stated the proposed acquisition will give Viterra two grain-storage sites at Crystal Brook within 8km of each other, enabling it to incentivise rail freight away from T-Ports’ Wallaroo facility, and three export pathways from Port Adelaide.

“A return to the Viterra monopoly will be bad for competition and bad for growers, families and communities across the Yorke and Eyre peninsulas,” T-Ports chief executive officer Nathan Kent said.

“It represents an attempt by global mega companies to eliminate local competition, which will only drive prices down at the farm gate.

“We will be urging the ACCC to push back on the Viterra monopoly and back competition instead, and we’re encouraging growers and regional communities to do the same.”

Eyre Peninsula grain grower and Franklin Harbour District Council mayor Robert Walsh says less competition will hurt farmers and the wider South Australian economy.

“We need competition,” Mr Walsh said.

“Every grower in the state is getting better prices for their grain because of the competition that has come into the market over the past few years, and that’s huge for South Australia.”

Mallala farmer John Lush is also opposed to the return of the Viterra monopoly.

“The thing we haven’t learned in Australia is that real competition doesn’t exist in many areas; look at Coles and Woolworths, or Qantas and Virgin.

“This proposal will lessen competition in storage and handling.

“This is about Viterra taking more control, and that’s not what any farmer in this district wants – particularly when we’re facing a bad season where we need to make every dollar count.”

In a statement provided to Grain Central, Grain Producers SA said it has surveyed growers about their support or otherwise for Viterra’s proposal to purchase Grainflow’s SA sites.

“We’ve had a presentation from Viterra and Cargill, spoken to T-Ports and canvassed the views of grain marketers,” GPSA CEO Brad Perry said.

“Based on the feedback received, we’ll be putting forward a submission to the ACCC on what we’ve heard.”

Source: T-Ports, ACCC, Grain Producers SA