Australia: ABB Grain Ltd. announced on November 11 that growers who sell to ABB Grain in WA this harvest will have their Cooperative Bulk Handling warehousing fee reimbursed by the marketer.

Malcolm Sedgwick, ABB Grain’s Field Merchant in Western Australia, said that this initiative was implemented last season when CBH first introduced the $0.45 per tonne fee to growers that warehoused grain. “We introduced the offer because we realise that during harvest many growers don’t have the time to make an informed sales decision and the introduction of the warehousing fee caused many growers to make snap decisions just to avoid the fee”.

“If growers choose to warehouse their grain and sell to us before the end of January we will send them a one-off payment of 45 cents a tonne during February to cover their warehousing charge,” he said. Malcolm said the warehouse rebate would be particularly popular with growers who did not want to use the ‘suspense’ system that limits marketing options.

“We believe that when growers have a moment’s time to sit down, they can then work out cash flow and taxation issues and compare marketing options and then make an informed decision about which product or service to use,” he said. “In Eastern Australia where ABB Grain is a major grain handler it has found that as marketing choices have become more complex more growers are taking advantage of the warehousing option.

“Here in WA we have found that 40 per cent of our purchases are made from warehoused stock, which suggests that when growers have a chance to think about their options rather than being rushed at receival points they are finding that we provide competitive prices and products.” Malcolm said growers needed to be aware that by warehousing their grain they could transfer against any of ABB Grain’s open pools, and contracts but access to cash prices on the day out of warehousing was by contract only, and, only at the marketer’s discretion. He encouraged growers to contact the ABB Grain Marketing team on free-call 1800 000 623 for more information.

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