CBH has unveiled its new state-of-the-art facilities at the Kwinana grain terminal, including a transfer pipeline, a storage warehouse and tanks and administration office.
The CBH Group says the new Kwinana fertiliser facility will deliver significant benefits to Western Australian grain growers.
The new facility was officially opened by the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Jackie Jarvis MLC, the Member for Brand, Madeleine King, and CBH chair, Simon Stead.
This project marks the start of CBH’s liquid fertiliser business and expands its granular fertiliser capacity by 15,000 tonnes. Located adjacent to CBH’s Kwinana Grain Terminal, the new facility has capacity to store 32,000 tonnes of Urea Ammonium Nitrate (UAN) and 55,000 tonnes of bulk granular fertiliser.
CBH chair Simon Stead said this is an exciting milestone, which will deliver significant value to the grain growers of Western Australia.
“CBH’s new Kwinana fertiliser facility provides a new liquid offering, and bolsters our granular offering, across a wider catchment for the benefit of all growers,” Mr Stead said.
“Ultimately, it enables us to reduce our handling and freight costs through efficiencies, which can be passed on to growers through competitive prices.
“Increasing our fertiliser storage capacity will also improve consistency of supply for growers when they need it most.”
CBH chief marketing and trading officer Jason Craig said the facility enables the growth of the co-operative’s fertiliser business in line with grower demand.
“CBH Fertiliser continues to experience year-on-year growth and outturned a record 204,000 tonnes last year – our best result since entering the market in 2015,” Mr Craig said.
“Increasing the scale of our fertiliser business, and allowing for further expansion, reflects the ever-increasing demand for CBH fertiliser.
“It also supports CBH’s Strategy target of holding a 15 per cent market share in WA by 2033.”
CBH was expected to commence outloading UAN and granular fertiliser to WA growers in April in time for this season’s winter crop.
The announcement comes as site works commence at Brookton on the first of 11 rail siding upgrades, as part of the State-Commonwealth Government's $200 million Agricultural Supply Chain Improvement Program.
WA Agriculture and Food Minister Jackie Jarvis said the expansion will help to future-proof CBH's infrastructure, as it moves increasingly large crops to satisfy international market demand.
“WA grain growers have harvested the State's second consecutive record crop, surpassing 26 million tonnes in 2022-23.
“Grains production is Western Australia's most valuable agricultural industry, with the 2022 season's harvest expected to reach $10 billion in value.
"This extra fertiliser capacity at CBH will deliver greater flexibility to grain growers, enabling them to purchase competitively priced fertiliser as required and in response to seasonal conditions.
"The investment is timely, with a recent ABARES report showing that despite a recent easing in input costs, that fertiliser, fuel and freight costs remain relatively high in long term averages.
"CBH has worked creatively across the supply chain to create these efficiencies and opportunities that benefit our growers and the grains industry," Minister Jarvis said.
