Over three million tonnes have been delivered in to the CBH network last week, signalling that harvest is well underway across Western Australia.

During the week, all five zones doubled their total receivals for the year as growers across the Grainbelt made the most of warm, dry harvesting conditions.

The Albany Zone received more than 298,000 tonnes in seven days, which was more than 70% of its total harvest 2023/24 receivals in just one week. 

CBH Chief Operations Officer Mick Daw said it is pleasing to see that new records were being set this year.

"This year's harvest is the earliest we have ever received 2 million tonnes into the CBH system," Mr Daw said.

"Compared to the end of October last year, we had received 490,000 tonnes in the system. It's incredible to think how much grain has come in so quickly during October this year.

"The Esperance, Geraldton and Kwinana North zones have all received more than 700,000 tonnes in total for the 2023/24 harvest, which is an incredible effort.

"The Albany and Kwinana South zones also had a significant uptick during the week, more than doubling their total receivals for the year in just seven days.

"It's good to see all commodities coming into the system, with wheat, canola and barley making up the majority, as we expect this time of year.

"Utility wheat grades are providing an option for growers to capture the value of high protein wheat with ≤10% screenings, especially in the Geraldton zone.

"These grades are also available in the other zones, as required by seasonal conditions."

* Tonnes stated are accurate as of Monday morning, 6 November 2023

Zone summaries

Albany Zone

• The Albany Zone has now received over 450,000 tonnes, with nearly 300,000 tonnes received in the past seven days. 
• Canola makes up 67% of receivals, with barley making up the majority of the remainder.
• The average cycle time across the zone is 38.5 minutes.
• 18 sites open with the balance to open towards the end of the week or early next week.

Esperance Zone

• The Esperance Zone has now received more than 750,000 tonnes of grain, which is approximately 30% of the estimate; almost 400,000 tonnes has come in over the last week.
• Canola is still making up the largest percentage of the deliveries, with barley close behind. Wheat receivals have started to increase slightly in volume and we expect this trend to continue. 
• The zone cycle time is sitting at 49.5 minutes, which should improve as more wheat starts and we have the ability to spread out segregations across sites.
• All sites are now open in Esperance.

Geraldton Zone

• The Geraldton Zone is approximately halfway through harvest.
• Extreme heat and wind speeds are causing harvest bans across the zone; the most recent one on Friday 3 November, shutting most sites down for the day.
• CAG1 is now starting to drop off, and we are seeing increase in wheat tonnes.
• No services have been closed as yet and all sites planned to be open are still open.
• The average cycle time for the Geraldton Zone is sitting at 43.7 minutes.
• We have received a high amount of H1 (30,000 tonnes) across the zone, and the amount of wheat above 5% screenings makes up approximately 50% of wheat receivals to date.

Kwinana North Zone

• The Kwinana North zone has now received more than approximately 25% of the total estimates for this season, 340,000 tonnes of which came in over the last week.
• Wheat is now making up majority of the deliveries as barley and canola slow down.
• The zone cycle time is sitting at 38.5 minutes, which should improve as more wheat starts to come into the network.
• All sites are now open.

Kwinana South Zone

• Harvest is progressing well in the Kwinana South Zone, with warm days making for good harvesting weather.
• GM canola is the dominant grade delivered, followed by BFED1 and non-GM canola.
• Malt barley is still making up just over 40% of the barley receivals.
• Over 18,000 tonnes of wheat has been received, with ASW9 and APW the main grades so far.