KUKERIN, AUSTRALIA — Bunge started construction June 3 on its first Western Australia grain storage facility in Kukerin, about 300 kilometers southeast of Perth.

The facility will have storage capacity of 200,000 tonnes of grain in bunker sites, ABC news reported. Bunge also has plans for a storage facility at Arthur River, with capacity of 250,000 tonnes, but construction hasn’t started yet.

Bunge finished construction of a bulk grain facility at Bunbury Port last year, and seven shipments of grain totaling 250,000 tonnes have been exported from there since it opened.

Bunge Australia General Manager Chris Aucote told ABC news he was very happy with the progress of development in WA and looked forward to accumulating more grain in the state.

"It's going to be an increase over time and we're certainly looking to increase the number of cargoes we've done this year and hopefully look to increase that by 50 to 100 percent over the next 12 months," he said. "For us Western Australia is a very important part of what we're doing here in Australia."

Aucote said the capacity of the shiploader at Bunbury Port is about 1 million tonnes with room to expand.