Australian grain receipts at the country's three main grain aggregators CBH, GrainCorp and Viterra have remained high in the past week despite widespread rainfall.
Western Australian (WA) growers have delivered more than 2.2mn t into the network over 20-26 November, despite harvest bans and rain delaying some harvest programmes across the grain belt.
This significant volume was driven by good harvest conditions in the Albany, Kwinana South and Esperance zones, with 676,000t, 582,000t and 551,000t delivered into the system respectively. Total harvest receivals into the CBH network have now reached 9.188mn t since 16 October.
It is likely that sites will begin closing in northern zones as growers finish their harvest programmes for the year, said CBH chief operations officer Mick Daw. "Harvest is all but finished in the Geraldton zone, and some parts of the Kwinana North zone are close to wrapping up," Daw said. CBH estimates that there is still approximately another 4mn t to come into the network, before harvest reaches completion in WA.
Harvest activity in Queensland and northern New South Wales (NSW) are now mostly complete, with receivals still trickling into the Dubbo and Werris Creek regions.
Decent rainfall over the last week has boosted summer cropping prospects for growers in southern Queensland and northern NSW. Rain events in NSW and Victoria have delayed grain receival activity for the past week. The overall quality of harvested grain has remained strong across all commodities.
Total receivals into the Viterra network has now surpassed 4mn t since 25 September.
The rain later in the week and some areas getting close to finishing harvest slowed receivals across the South Australia (SA) central region last week, with growers delivering 267,000t compared to almost 450,000t the previous week.
Viterra exported its first vessel with 2023-24 season grain at Inner Harbour last week, with a cargo loaded with 30,000t of barley. Viterra also continued to load ship out of Port Lincoln and Thevenard terminals to international markets during the week.
Growers delivering to the Viterra network are satisfied with quality and yields, which is reflected at the sites where significant volumes of hard wheat, and good quality canola and pulses are being received. Many growers are also confident they will finish harvesting before Christmas.
Further rainfall over the next eight days in southern parts of the country could affect harvest and downgrade crops that are yet to be harvested. The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) have forecast up to 150mm of rain across southern NSW and SA. Up to 100mm is also predicted for eastern parts of Queensland over the coming eight days, which means possibly favourable weather for farmers that have completed winter harvest and are preparing for summer crop planting.
Harvest receival volumes are well ahead of last year's by this period because of an early start and consequently an earlier finish to harvest this year.
| CBH grain receivals to date 2022 vs 2023 (000't) | ||
| Region | Total 2023 | Total 2022 |
| Albany | 1,911 | 767 |
| Esperance | 2,014 | 898 |
| Geraldton | 1,314 | 2,137 |
| Kwinana North | 1,860 | 2,073 |
| Kwinana South | 2,089 | 1,055 |
| CBH Total | 9,188 | 6,933 |
| Source: CBH | ||
| Graincorp grain receivals to date 2022 vs 2023 (000't) | ||
| Region | Total 2023 | Total 2022 |
| Queensland | 411 | 1,756 |
| New South Wales | 2,734 | 1,120 |
| Victoria | 1,646 | 30 |
| Total grain receivals | 4,791 | 3,037 |
| Source: Graincorp | ||
| Viterra grain receivals to date 2022 vs 2023 (000't) | ||
| Region | Total 2023 | Total 2022 |
| Western region | 1,640 | 780 |
| Central region | 1,767 | 316 |
| Eastern region | 701 | 110 |
| Viterra total | 4,108 | 1,207 |
| Source: Viterra | ||
