Australia: ABB Grain Ltd (ABB) announced on 28 October 2004 it would be offering the same marketing options for barley that growers have come to know from ABB for the 2004/05 harvest, with two new marketing options introduced in consideration of the current price environment in the barley market.

Warehouse Plus is a warehousing option that gives growers extra time to decide on their marketing option while providing a loan to growers whilst the grain is in storage. This will be available for both malting and feed barley. Details will be announced next week.

The second option is a domestic pool to be run for feed barley at selected sites east of Adelaide based off the domestic prices that we are seeing in Victoria. Pool indicators will be announced in the next few days.

The other marketing options for growers include ABB’s three barley pools – the Standard Pool, Extended Pool and Traditional Pool.

The Standard Pool provides cash flow through a loan facility, with approximately 75% of the estimated value of grain lent to growers following delivery. Pool distributions are used to repay the amount lent to growers, occuring as sales proceeds are received by the company. Distributions are typically scheduled every 3-4 months after the first distribution in April until the pool’s finalisation around 18 months after harvest.

The Extended Pool option provides payments following pool sales. No money is received at the time of delivery; rather, money is received through distributions made at the same time as the distributions for the Standard Pool.

A Line of Credit facility is available with the Extended Pool, allowing growers to access cash flow before or between distributions. Lines of credit accessed are repaid through pool distributions or voluntary repayments can be made.

The Traditional Pool offers an advance payment to growers, with approximately 75% of the estimated grain value paid following delivery. The balance is received in two further payments – one scheduled for August following delivery and one at the pool’s finalisation in May/June.

Deliveries of malting 3 barley into the SA barley pool are subject to ABB’s Sliding Scale quality adjustments for protein and retention.

E-malt.com, the global information source for the brewing and malting industry professionals. The bi-weekly E-malt.com Newsletters feature latest industry news, statistics in graphs and tables, world barley and malt prices, and other relevant information. Click here to get full access to E-malt.com. If you are a Castle Malting client, you can get free access to E-malt.com website and publications. Contact us for more information at marketing@castlemalting.com .