Weekly harvest report
Week ending Sunday 6 December 2020 report
| 30 November – 6 December 2020 | Total 2020/21 harvest** | |
|---|---|---|
| Viterra total receivals* | 771,011 tonnes | 4,354,624 tonnes |
| Western region receivals | 162,918 tonnes | 1,563,151 tonnes |
| Central region receivals | 364,848 tonnes | 1,855,697 tonnes |
| Eastern region receivals*** | 243,245 tonnes | 935,776 tonnes |
Receivals slowed slightly last week as we received 770,000 tonnes into our network, taking our total receivals to over 4.3 million tonnes. Wheat is now far surpassing barley as the main commodity received.
Viterra Chief Operations Officer James Murray says despite the weather impacting deliveries, sites were still busy outturning to meet demand for South Australian grain in the Viterra network.
“Deliveries last week were impacted by the cool and wet weather, but sites were still a hub of activity managing outturns to both the export and domestic markets, as well as receiving deliveries on the warmer days,” James says.
“Growers delivering into Viterra sites have access to multiple buyers, and so far this harvest 25 different buyers have purchased 2020/21 season grain in our system.
“We work closely with buyers and end use customers, focusing on quality and ensuring grain in our network continues to meet their needs, to maintain market access for South Australian growers.”
Viterra Western region Operations Manager Nick Pratt says receivals dipped for the region last week with around 163,000 tonnes received.
“Growers struggled to harvest their crops due to high moisture still being present until Thursday and Friday from the previous weekend’s rain,” Nick says.
“Most of the activity was in the south of the region, with our Port Lincoln and Cummins sites receiving the most tonnes.
“Harvest is nearly complete in a few areas and some of our sites are starting to finish receivals for the year. Growers still harvesting are hoping they can be finished before Christmas.”
Viterra Central region Operations Manager Jack Tansley says the majority of deliveries in the region last week happened across three days.
“Monday, Thursday and Friday were solid days in the Central region with 75% of the week’s tonnes received on those days,” Jack says.
“The majority of volume was into Port Giles, Gladstone, Roseworthy and Wallaroo.”
Viterra Eastern region Operations Manager Jo Klitscher says another daily receival record was broken for the region last week.
“Our Tailem Bend site broke its daily receival record on Monday 30 November when 17,475 tonnes were delivered into the site,” Jo says.
“It’s great to see more records broken in our region and I’d like to commend the staff at site for doing such a fantastic job managing their busiest day ever, efficiently and safely.
“Following on from our busy Monday, we had a relatively slow rest of the week due to the rain.
“We are seeing some growers finish up harvest in the Mallee region, but the rain will probably push back the end of harvest for most other growers.”
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.
