Find out how many daily site receival records have been broken this week

Operations Update

*Tonnes stated are accurate as of Monday morning, 22 November. 

 

With most growers across the state finally experiencing good weather for harvesting in the past week, we have seen daily site receival records broken at 14 sites.

Chief Operations Officer Mick Daw said that it was pleasing to hear reports of higher yield expectations across most zones and that the increased grain volumes had lead to CBH breaking several site receival records over the last few weeks. 

"Over the last week, we have seen an increase in daily tonnages and we are now receiving in excess of 400,000 tonnes per day, with a number of sites setting new daily receival records."

"It is pleasing to see that a lot of tonnages have been received at sites seamlessly which is a testament to our frontline and maintenance teams, as well as the investments that we have made into our assets and infrastructure."

“However, as we communicated at pre-harvest meetings, given the significant size of this year’s crop, more sites and services will fill and close earlier this year if we can’t keep them open with essential harvest outloading. This is starting to occur at various sites across the state."

Mr Daw acknowledged that this may be frustrating for growers, however gave assurance that CBH is able to respond to the task. 

“While some services will close at some sites, growers will have options at larger sites or sites where we have built emergency storage. This year, we have already built 1.5 million tonnes of emergency storage with 2 million tonnes planned and we are currently adding further emergency storage to this capacity."

"We are also continuing to seek further harvest essential transport resources to keep sites going."

Growers continue to receive regular communication from their Area Managers on the availability of services, including when they are expected to close and alternative delivery sites if this does occur.

We continue to encourage everyone delivering grain to use the CDF app and to please contact the Grower Service Centre for any support with this. 

New Daily Receival Records

 

 

Zone Summary

Albany Zone

• The Albany zone experienced good harvesting conditions with warmer weather at the start of last week, followed by cooler weather with scattered showers that resulted in a drop off of receival tonnes towards the end of week. 
• The zone has received 710,000 tonnes so far, with 235,000 tonnes in the last seven days.
• Growers in the south Katanning area had started their harvesting programs before the weekend rain, joining the majority of growers across the zone now harvesting canola, barley and oats.
• Grain quality is good, with canola and barley yielding well above estimates.
• Most sites in the zone are now open for receivals and the balance of sites will open towards the end of this week.
• Cycle times are generally very good across the zone.

Esperance Zone

• Harvest is progressing well in the Esperance zone. Apart from the weather events that again impacted the zone over the weekend, the zone saw its biggest week for receivals this year and in doing so, broke daily records at both the Port (37,150 tonnes) and Grass Patch (15,730 tonnes).
• Weekly receivals for the zone were 310,000 tonnes and year to date the zone has received 1,250,000 tonnes.
• The majority of canola has now been delivered, barley is approximately half completed, and the wheat and pulse harvest now underway.
• Moisture windows are proving challenging with the consistent weather events but with the high moisture services available, growers have options to deliver and make the most of any favourable harvesting conditions.
• Canola oil content is fair with a large proportion now in storage. Wheat and barley quality are fair, with malt barley tonnages increasing in the last week.
• One site has closed it's canola service due to it filling, but growers have alternatives and outloading is supporting keeping these services open. 
• Cycle times are similar to previous weeks.     

Geraldton Zone

• Most of the Geraldton Zone has had good harvesting conditions over the last week, with only the coastal strip being slightly impacted by increased moisture due to the cooler weather.
• Weekly receivals for the zone were 470,000 tonnes, bringing the year to date total to 1,800,000 tonnes.
• Canola, barley and lupins continue to make up the majority of grain received in the zone. The volume of wheat being delivered is quickly increasing as more growers start harvesting this commodity.
• Grain quality for all commodities remains very good, and wheat crops are also delivering above expectation yields, following on from the same trend in canola and barley.
• All sites in the zone are now open for receivals. Site cycle times remained consistent with the previous week.

Kwinana North Zone

• The Kwinana North zone has had very good harvesting conditions in the past week, with the zone receiving 575,000 tonnes, bringing the year to date total to 1.55 million tonnes.
• Canola and barley again dominated receivals, but many growers across the zone have now finished harvesting these crops and have moved onto wheat.
• Yields continue to be well above expectations for all commodities and grain quality remains good across all commodities.
• All sites in the zone are now open for receivals with the average cycle time decreasing slightly from last week.

Kwinana South Zone

• Some areas of the Kwinana South Zone had moisture in the air last week, which slowed the harvest slightly, but overall conditions were quite good. However, some areas of the zone received rain on the weekend and this slowed progress.
• The zone has received 410,000 tonnes in the past week, bringing the year to date total to 1 million tonnes.
• Growers are finishing canola and barley in the north of the zone, with most switching over to wheat. The south of the zone, which is still very green in some areas, is now starting with canola, barley and oats. 
• Overall, grain quality is good across all commodities with yields continuing to track slightly higher than expected.
• All sites in the zone are now open for receivals, with cycle times currently across the zone remaining consistent with last week.

 

Market Update

Canola

European canola demand for first quarter of 2022 still remains firm however with sold out shipping capacity across most of Australia, this market is becoming increasingly difficult for the Australian market to access. Australian exporters are now focused on the second quarter of 2022 prior to the Northern Hemisphere crop.

Wheat

On the back of ongoing rain in Eastern Australia and the potential impact to quality saw wheat spreads between APW and ASW blow out to $80 per tonne. The market is focused on securing APW and higher protein grades as flour millers in Asia look for alternative supplies of high protein wheat. Whilst feed demand remains positive, feed wheat will need to compete with corn.

Barley

Malting markets are relatively quiet however with limited quality supplies out of Australia, as a result of the weather, international maltsters may find it increasingly difficult to source quality which may assist malt to feed spreads.

 

Harvest Heroes

Each year, our existing CBH staff are joined by hundreds of harvest employees, and as a team they work together to receive the WA crop as safely and efficiently as possible. We want to highlight some of these harvest heroes who help make our grain supply chain the best in the world, and make harvest our favourite time of year.

Mick Browne is regularly acknowledged by growers, truck drivers and CBH staff for how smoothly everything runs at Konnongorring, where he is the Receival Point Operator In Charge (RPOIC). 

Everyone who works with Mick praises him for his easygoing but efficient manner. This attitude is particularly evident at harvest, when Mick maintains his cool under pressure and makes sure that any problem that comes up is dealt with quickly and calmly. 

Mick always leads by example with his staff and keeps the newly upgraded site in immaculate condition. Given how busy Konnongorring can be, this shows Mick's commitment to being site proud.

In the lead-up to harvest, Mick also volunteered to help with sampler training in Perth, although he didn't have much previous experience in this. This allowed him to gain better knowledge of sample shed processes, so he can support his harvest staff with troubleshooting and grain quality questions where required.

Time in other roles this year, including Area Manager and Operations Coordinator, as well as time working at Kwinana Grain Terminal, has also added to Mick's understanding and experience of CBH. 

Mick's willingness to have a go at anything and always being happy to help others sets a great example and makes everyone happy to be working with him at Konnongorring this harvest!

(Konnongorring RPOIC Mick Brown - photo credit to Corey Broad).