This grain site services the Albany district in WA and is for sale. Photo: CBRE

THE run of trades in up-country grain sites appears set to continue in 2022, with the  Godde’s Grain and Fertiliser business changing  hands recently, and a comparable site at Albany in Western Australia listing.

The Godde’s business was sold via an Inglis Rural Property expressions-of-interest campaign for an undisclosed sum to Peter Chambers.

Sources have told Grain Central that Mr Chambers is an Australian with grazing property on the NSW Southern Tablelands, and he has worked extensively in corporate governance in Indonesia and Australia.

They have also said the Culcairn, NSW, site is expected to continue as a fee-for-service receival and storage site for parties trading into export and domestic markets, but is not currently running its own trading book, as it did for most of the time under the Godde family’s ownership.

Godde’s Grain and Fertiliser was established in the 1960s as an adjunct to the Goddes’ farming business, which is still going strong, and is now again the family’s focus.

It has 20,000 tonnes of vertical grain storage, 15,000t of bunker storage and associated infrastructure, and is located roughly halfway between Wagga Wagga and Albury

Albany site a rarity

While grain sites number many in eastern Australia, they are rarer in WA, where bulk export is the heavyweight in all port zones.

However, some operators have over the years established sites to dry, clean and blend grain, and one of those is located in the Pendeen Industrial Estate.

Established by local grower Tim Sampson, it has storage for 21,000t of grain on a site covering almost 4 hectares close to Chester Pass Road, which becomes the South Coast Highway.

The property is zoned general industrial, and is listed with CBRE at $4.95 million.

“It’s a key transport hub, and is perfectly situated for a grain-processing facility to add further value,” CBRE agent Phil Melville said.

It has road-train access, a 29-metre weighbridge, four receival pits and 35 silos, and is 7km north of Albany.

This is an opportunity for a grain based processing business with substantial structural and storage infrastructure in place.

Five sales in past year

Late last month, dual TAP AgriCo sites at Powranna in Tasmania changed hands, while early last year CopRice, Reid Stockfeeds and Riverina (Australia) Pty Ltd all expanded with the purchase of existing operations.

CopRice bought Ingham’s dairy feed mill in in New Zealand, while Riverina bought Ambos Stockfeeds at young on the south-west slopes of NSW, and Reid Stockfeeds acquired Five Star Stockfeeds, both Victorian companies.

In May, BFB bought Preston Grain and AW Derrick & Sons as an adjunct to its existing operations in Temora in southern NSW.

Only Bayliss Grain at Borambil on the Liverpool Plains of north-west NSW remains on the market after listing in March last year with Elders Rural Property.

Bayliss Grain has a 6000-tonne bulk storage shed, flat-floor silos and cone-based silos which combined can hold around 24,000t of grain.