Harvesting Scepter wheat on Friday in the Cunderdin district in CBH’s Kwinana South Zone. Photo: Emily Stretch

WESTERN Australian growers have delivered a total of 7.86 million tonnes (Mt) of grain to CBH Group sites in the harvest to yesterday, according to the bulk handler’s latest Harvest Report.

This follows deliveries of 2.07Mt in the week to yesterday, despite adverse weather breaking momentum built during the previous week.

“Growers were held up in most parts of the state due to a variety of bad weather events that included rain, hail, lightning, and in some cases fire, with shires in several areas issuing harvest bans,” the report said.

Despite these interruptions, more daily site records were set at Gairdner in the Albany Zone, Shark Lake, Mount Madden and Munglinup in the Esperance Zone, and Mukinbudin in the Kwinana North Zone.

The Grain Industry Association of Western Australia updated its production estimates on Friday in its November report, and now predicts a harvest total of 26.6Mt.

CBH chief operations officer Mick Daw said the co-operative’s internal estimates mirror GIWA’s.

“If we reach this figure, and this estimate becomes a reality, it will be the largest crop in WA history – and a huge achievement for WA growers and the grains industry as a whole,” Mr Daw said.

“Of course, we are less than two months into harvest and there is still plenty to go.

“As I mentioned prior to harvest, we have been planning for this large crop since earlier in the year and we are prepared and ready.

“When they were able to get back to harvesting, growers are getting the crop off quicker and getting more tonnes to site quicker.

“We are still seeing new site and zone records coming in, despite the rain and other weather events.

“Harvest shipping is also progressing well, and we have a healthy-looking stem at all four ports.

“We are continuing to get tonnes out and off to our customers around the world, while also freeing up storage space in the port precincts and key network sites.

Following is a round-up of activity by zone:

Albany

Rain on Thursday slowed receivals for several days into the weekend.

Barley and canola are the main commodities being received, and small amounts of wheat are being delivered.

All sites are now open across the zone.

Gairdner broke its daily receival record last week with 14,093t, 9997t of that being canola.

Esperance

Harvest has continued strongly as barley and canola deliveries begin to slow, and wheat receivals steadily increase across the zone.

Rain interrupted harvest and receivals in some areas last week, and conditions are forecast to remain similar through to early this week.

Some services have closed, primarily for canola and barley, due to limited space, but alternative services are available at neighbouring sites.

Multiple site records have been broken at Shark Lake and Munglinup, with new individual records at Chadwick and Mount Madden.

A new zone record was also set with 114,000t received in a single day.

Geraldton

Various weather events including lightning, fire, rain, and hail had a major impact in various locations across the zone last week.

Extreme weather events caused a number of shires to impose harvest bans.

High volumes of canola are still coming in, but feed barley deliveries have started to drop away.

Wheat is expected to ramp up when the zone has dried out.

Kwinana North

Rain and thunderstorms slowed deliveries across the whole zone for most of last week.

All commodities are now being received, and all sites are open.

Mukinbudin broke its daily receival record last Monday, with 6279t delivered.

Kwinana South

Harvest receivals ramped up at the start of the week, with daily receivals clicking over the 100,000t mark for the first time.

However, receivals slowed on Wednesday and Thursday due to rain, and weather was challenging over the weekend too.

GM canola is still the largest commodity being delivered, accounting for more than half of daily receivals.

Barley is also being delivered in reasonable volumes, followed by wheat, oats, and non-GM canola.

Most sites are now open with the exception of Doodlakine, a wheat-only site, which will open next week.

All canola and barley services are open, and wheat segregations at some sites are not yet opened in full.

Source: CBH Group