Record for WA canola
Australia's largest shipment of canola departed CBH's Kwinana port terminal this week.
The 78,000-tonne shipment of non-GM canola, purchased from CBH, also marks one of WA's largest-ever grain shipments.
Archer Daniels Midland's newest ocean-going vessel, the MV Harvest Frost, left Australia on Tuesday and will take about 35 days to travel to ADM's port facility and crushing plant at Europoort in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
ADM, a top-five exporter of Australian agricultural commodities, distributes Australian non-GM canola to its facilities across northwest Europe, primarily Germany and the Netherlands, where it is processed and refined for use in products such as margarines and vegetable oils, bakery goods, frying applications, pharmaceutical glycerine and biodiesel fuels.
ADM grain general manager Tim Henry said the company was proud that its newest and most modern vessel would make its maiden voyage from Australia, and set a national record in doing so.
He said with the expected delivery of two more similar vessels within the next six months, ADM would increase its canola purchases from WA farmers both directly and via grain marketers such as CBH.
"We will have more shipping capacity, which means we will be able to increase volumes of purchases," he said.
CBH Group trading manager for protein and oilseeds, Dane Robertson, said Europe was a major destination for Australian canola.
Last year, CBH Marketing and Trading sold and shipped more than 700,000 tonnes to European customers.
Canola production in WA has increased significantly over the past five years, with a record production of about 1.8 million tonnes last year.
This year, production will be down slightly to about 1.5 million tonnes.
Mr Robertson said shipments to Europe were likely to be lower this year as Europe enjoyed a good local production, reducing the need for imports.
The previous record for an Australian canola shipment was set in December 2012, when 64,804 tonnes were shipped on board the MV Lyric Sun.
CBH Group general manager marketing and trading Jason Craig said the record shipment comes after a year of records for the company.
"This is a fantastic milestone for the CBH Group and further strengthens our position as the number one exporter of Australian grain, in addition to being the largest canola exporter in Australia," he said.
"We traded 10 million tonnes last financial year and more than six million tonnes of that grain was shipped to CBH Marketing and Trading customers from around the world."
