Grain exports from Viterra’s six port terminals exceeded 860,000 tonnes during the month of December – the company’s second largest shipping month on record.
In achieving this figure, Port Lincoln broke the all-time record for shipments from a single port in a month, exporting more than 350,000 tonnes in December.
Tim Krause, General Manager Viterra Operations, said the company’s large shipping program was critical in meeting the needs of growers and end-use customers in a potential record season.
“Shipping during harvest keeps the supply chain moving, freeing up space upcountry for grower deliveries and meeting peak end-user demand,” Tim said.
“Viterra has worked incredibly hard to encourage exporters to come to South Australia and increase their shipping task during harvest. As a result we shipped well over one million tonnes during the peak harvest months of November and December and have a further five million tonnes booked for 2017.
“Exporters and consumers value our supply chain which reliably provides grain to meet their quality specifications. Given we are competing against other grain growing regions globally, this is a huge benefit to growers and gives them access to pricing from multiple buyers and from all major global markets.”
Viterra’s Outer Harbor terminal also reached a milestone last week, shipping its 10 millionth tonne of grain since the terminal opened in 2009.
“The vessel which tipped Outer Harbor over this milestone was the MV Antares, the largest vessel loaded at any Viterra port this season,” Tim said.
“This Glencore Grain vessel was loaded with 70,000 tonnes of barley, headed to China.”
Tim said a number of receival records had been achieved throughout the Viterra network this season, as the total amount of grain received so far hit about 7.5 million tonnes (as of Sunday 1 January).
“The Western region surpassed its total season record previously set in 2010/11, with more than 3.1 million tonnes received so far.
“Across the network, 22 sites have broken daily receival records – many more than once – and 12 sites have broken their season records.
“Yields are exceeding grower expectations. We are close to finishing the building of an extra 900,000 tonnes of extra storage across the state to handle the crop. This has increased from an initial 500,000 tonnes announced in August.”
“Viterra staff are working closely with growers to monitor remaining deliveries.”