CBH records largest week of receivals ever

Operations Update

*Tonnes stated are accurate as of Monday morning, 6 December. 

 The CBH Group has once again experienced another large week of grain receivals with more than 3.5 million tonnes delivered, bringing the total to more than 12 million tonnes.

Chief Operations Officer Mick Daw said that with growers experiencing excellent harvesting conditions over the past week along with higher than expected yields, CBH had continued to break multiple grain receival records as well as the previous state shipping record. 

"In the last week, we have received over 500,000 tonnes per day for six days, bringing our total tonnes received to date to nearly 13 million tonnes."

"On Wednesday 1 December, we set a new single day receival record of 586,000 tonnes, breaking the previous record of 569,000 tonnes which was only set two days prior."

"In addition to this, we have also surpassed our previous state shipping record of 1.11mt for November with 1.24 million tonnes shipped, including an all-time record month for Geraldton, shipping 422,000 tonnes of grain," said Mr Daw. 

"It is really pleasing to note 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 we have made into our assets and infrastructure."

Mr Daw acknowledged that this unprecedented volume had placed significant pressure on everyone involved with harvest including growers, their families, employees, transporters and CBH staff. 

"CBH is actively working to ensure we can maintain services for growers. This may not be your closest site, but we will ensure major sites can continue to take grain."

"We ask that all CBH staff, growers and transporters be patient, respectful and work together to get through this record-breaking harvest."

"Any concerns growers have regarding site operations should be discussed with the site manager or Area Manager and not frontline staff."

We will continue to use the CDF app to send notifications on the availability of services, including temporary and permanent closures. If these closures do occur, the CDF app should also be used to determine where alternative services are available at surrounding sites. If you have any issues with the CDF app, please contact the Grower Service Centre

Zone Summary

Albany Zone

• With some warmer weather last week, receivals increased significantly across the zone with 775,000 tonnes delivered in the last seven days taking the total to 1,939,000 tonnes.
• Canola, barley and oats is still making up the bulk of receivals, although wheat deliveries are increasing.
• Grain quality is generally good despite recent rain. Most barley received is being graded as feed.
• All sites in the zone are now open for receivals with the average cycle time improving over the last week.

 

Esperance Zone

• Harvest is progressing well in the Esperance zone with 761,000tonnes received in the last 7 days. This brings the zone total to date to 2,444,000 tonnes. 
• Another week of fine weather should see similar tonnages across the zone, with some growers expected to finish their programs.
• Wheat is the major grain being received in the zone with most growers almost having completed or a reasonable way through their barley and canola crops.
• Quality remains good given the amount of rain that has fallen during the harvest period. Localised issues are being managed and are not of concern to overall zone quality.
• All sites still remain open and the average cycle time for the zone is reasonable. As storages fill, cycle time will naturally become longer due to the availability of the grids on sites. Cycle times are variable between sites depending on location in the zone and the requirement for the grain to be accumulated for vessels at the port. 

 

Geraldton Zone

• The Geraldton zone received 526,000 tonnes last week and 2,933,000 tonnes in total this season. Morawa and Canna both broke their all-time site receival record with more grain to come into both.
• Wheat made up the bulk of receivals with only small amounts of the other commodities being delivered. Some growers have now finished harvest.
• Grain quality continues to be excellent overall, with late crops being monitored closely for any potential issues.
• Site cycle times remain consistent with previous weeks. As services at sites such as Mullewa, Northampton and Yuna fill and close, queues at alternative services may increase and potentially impact cycle times.

 

Kwinana North Zone

• The Kwinana North zone had very good harvesting conditions in the past week, receiving 800,000 tonnes bringing the year to date total to 3,099,000 tonnes.
• Most of the grain being received is now wheat, with only small amounts of canola and barley still to come in.
• Yields are still above expectations as growers move to harvesting wheat.
• All sites in the zone remain open for receivals and the average cycle time has improved.

 

Kwinana South Zone

• The Kwinana South Zone has had very good harvesting conditions over the past week, receiving 667,000 tonnes to bring the year to date total to 2,274,000 tonnes. With no rain predicted for next week, another bumper week of receivals is expected.
• Barley receivals are starting to slow in the north of the zone as we see growers moving into their wheat programs with wheat deliveries in the past week being double that of the previous week.
• Yields are still above expectations as growers move to harvesting wheat.
• All sites are open for receivals except for Tammin, which is open for remote sampling but not for receivals due to services filling and rail being allocated to sites with rapid rail outloading capabilities.
• The average cycle time has again improved as more growers have started harvesting wheat.
• Growers are encouraged to check the CDF app for services at their local bins as there are some sites where services are now full.

 

Market Update

Wheat

The wheat market continues to hold firm at A$435 per tonne FIS Kwinana for APW grades or higher, with end users still trying to digest the rain impact on quality in Eastern Australia. Australia is forecast to produce 34.5 million tonnes of wheat this season with the trade estimating up to a third of this will be feed quality. The APW to ASW spread in Western Australia continued to be well over A$100 per tonne as the market look to cover their APW requirements. However we are predicting this spread to narrow as the market covers their higher protein requirements. The international market continues to watch the Russian export tax situation with this expected to climb to USD85 per tonne by the middle of December on stronger export prices. Russian wheat prices are being driven by expectations that the Russian Government will implement an export quota of 5 million tonnes for shipping between March – June 2022. In addition to this, Statistics Canada forecast wheat production is at 21.7 million tonnes, 38 per cent lower than last season. This should also keep Australian prices firm in the short term. Growers are continuing to selectively sell wheat as they look to wait until they have finished harvest to optimise their grades.

Barley

On the other hand, feed barley markets have drifted slightly lower during the week with prices in the A$270’s FIS Kwinana with demand being relatively quiet from key Middle East markets. However, interest from China for Black Sea barley for 2022 mid year shipment should provide a base for the market and limit the drifting of prices lower.

Canola

The canola market remains tight despite a record crop of 5.7 million tonnes forecast for Australia. Canada’s canola crop is the lowest in 14 years at 12.6 million tonnes, which has once again provided a base on prices with non GM canola priced at A$900 per tonne FIS Kwinana and with interest still remaining. Grower selling is slowing as a large percentage of the crop is harvested and growers are sufficiently sold for the near term.  

 

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.

Ron Rankine is the Control Systems Manager in the Operations IT team and is integral in helping maintain the computer systems that run the equipment at our sites and ports. Think big - conveyors, grids and stackers rather than the computers in the sample shed or weighbridge.

Ron never hesitates to put his hand up to help resolve problems on site, even if it means travelling long distances at short notice. This occurred in late November when the Mingenew site lost the use of 6 grids due to a computer fault. With no parts in the zone to fix the issue, Ron drove on a Sunday from his home in Perth to Kwinana to pick up spares, then to Mingenew. Once there, he worked with local electricians to resolve the problem, staying on site to ensure everything was running smoothly before returning home.

This example is just one of many where Ron has dropped everything to help his colleagues get systems up and running so operations can continue. He has also travelled on separate occasions to ports on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve to assist with critical repairs. This was not expected of Ron, but he knew that frontline staff were under pressure to continue loading grain for shipping and that him being on site would help get the issues fixed quickly.

Ron's commitment to his colleagues at CBH has landed him the nickname  'The Legend' amongst CBH Area Managers. However, Ron is a quiet achiever and never seeks recognition, just gets on with the job. 

It’s people like Ron who make up our team of Harvest Heroes.

 

(Geraldton Plant Operator Russel Saunders).