SOUTH AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA — As the 2018-19 harvest season comes to a close Viterra has received around four million tonnes of grain.
Most deliveries to sites through the network are now taking grain from on-farm storage.
The Cummins site received the most grain of any Viterra site this season, with just over 450,000 tonnes delivered. Port Giles, Port Lincoln, Ardrossan and Tumby Bay were the next highest receival sites across the network, Viterra said.
The majority of receivals into the Viterra network this season were wheat, barley and canola. Lentils, faba beans, field peas, lupins and chickpeas also were received.
“Overall, the quality of grain received has been generally good, particularly given the challenges of the season,” Viterra said. “There were some isolated impacts on quality late in the season due to the multiple wet weather events.”
Viterra worked with growers to provide a flexible service with the ability to manage a range of volumes based on growers’ production. Yields varied across the state with some areas experiencing average to above average yields and some areas well below average.
Viterra encouraged growers to check site-based pricing this season.
“The strong East coast demand meant that pricing through the network was not typical of traditional port-based pricing with rail sites attracting stronger site-based pricing,” Viterra said.
Viterra said it continues to work with buyers to facilitate grain movements into the South Australian market and East coast by rail and coastal vessels, while also working closely with export customers to meet their needs.