Week ending Sunday 29 November 2020 report

We had another big week last week with 960,000 tonnes delivered into our sites, taking our total receivals for the season past the 3.5 million tonne mark. Wheat made up the majority of deliveries as growers finish their barley harvest.

Viterra Operations Manager Michael Hill says growers are feeling upbeat about the season and have been extremely positive about our services and opening hours so far this harvest.

“We have been hearing great feedback about how our sites are running, and how we’re matching our opening hours to growers’ needs,” Michael says.

“Growers are taking advantage of the services they can access when delivering grain into Viterra sites, including dynamic binning and our new warehouse to cash.

“So far this harvest, over 300,000 tonnes of grain have been instantly upgraded through our dynamic binning service, equaling to about $2.5 million in value to growers. We expect those figures to keep increasing as harvest continues and wheat deliveries pick up.

“We are also seeing transactions through our warehouse to cash service continue to increase along with tonnages into our sites, as growers instantly sell their warehoused grain to a cash price.”

All 55 of our grower receival sites are now taking deliveries, following our Frances site’s first load for the harvest.

Viterra Eastern region Operations Manager Jo Klitscher says the site opened to take its first delivery, a load of canola, on Wednesday.

“Frances is usually one of our last sites to start receiving grain, we keep in close contact with local growers who let us know when they are ready to make their first deliveries,” Jo says.

“In the Eastern region, we had another good week last week despite the weather causing problems for growers who had to work around both extremely hot days and cooler days with rain.

“Sites are busy with lots of activity, and we are working hard managing outturns so we can continue to receive grain.”

Last week saw our largest day so far this harvest on Thursday, when over 225,000 tonnes were delivered and two sites, Roseworthy and Port Lincoln, broke their daily receival records.

Viterra Western region Operations Manager Nick Pratt says this is the third record breaking day for Port Lincoln this harvest.

“It’s a fantastic achievement for our employees at site who received 13,675 tonnes in one day. Each time we commend them for their biggest day ever, they successfully manage an even bigger one,” Nick says.

“The most recent record breaker is even more impressive as the site was simultaneously loading vessels last week, as our busy shipping programme commences.”

Viterra Central region Operations Manager Jack Tansley says Roseworthy’s record breaking day saw them receive 17,156 tonnes, beating the previous record set during our 2016/17 record harvest.

“I commend our employees who have done an excellent job at managing these big volume days safely and efficiently, and I thank growers and carriers for their support onsite,” Jack says.

“It’s great to see that we’ve had a record broken, we’ve been very focused on working closely with growers and meeting their needs.

“We have worked on extending hours so they can continue delivering into our sites until late when they finish harvesting for the day.

“We’re making sure they’re getting turned around as quickly as possible while also maintaining our classification and quality standards so grain from our state continues to have access in as many domestic and export markets as possible.”

Disclaimer
* This data is subject to variation due to individual site operations and the timing of reports.
** The total 2020/21 data includes grain received into Viterra’s storage and handling network since 3 October 2020.
*** Eastern region data includes Inner Harbour and Victorian sites.