WA

Posted in: WA
CBH Group welcomes ALP on wheat
By CBH Group
Oct 12, 2007 - 6:45:52 AM

The CBH Group welcomes a proposal by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) to reform wheat marketing arrangements in Australia.

As announced earlier today, the Australian Labor Party proposes a new model for exporting wheat which retains a single desk for the control of wheat exports while allowing a number of participants to export Australian wheat, providing greater choice for growers.

CBH Chairman, Tony Critch said the CBH Group welcomed any proposal that allows greater transparency, contestability and the ability for growers to extract greater value for their wheat.

"We have always supported a wheat marketing system that provides Australian growers with greater choice within a single desk framework,"Mr Critch said.

"The system that has been proposed will not only do this, but it will also provide organisations that can clearly demonstrate an ability to provide Australian growers with greater value for their grain, such as the CBH Group, with the opportunity to do so.

"In the CBH Group's  case, this type of system would have allowed us to provide Western Australian growers with an additional $10 per tonne above our current equity for their wheat this harvest, simply through exporting to our own flour mills throughout Asia; flour mills that are owned by our Western Australian grain growers.

"We welcome any system that can allow Western Australian growers to directly benefit from the relationship they have with their flour mills.

"This relationship maximises efficiencies and creates the opportunity for growers in Western Australia to supply wheat direct to their mills in Asia, via a supply chain that has the ability to realise value back to those participating growers.

"Last season, growers in Western Australia very clearly signalled their support for an alternative pathway to international markets through the CBH Group wheat pool.

"We believe the immediate implementation of an accreditation system would be welcomed by Western Australian growers who are, once again, seeking to maximise the value of their grain this harvest."

Dated: 10th October 2007

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