THE Australian Grain Exporters Association has hailed the first year of deregulated wheat marketing as a success, in spite of logistical issues that have placed pressure on port facilities.
The lobby group, representing grain marketers such as Cargill and Louis Dreyfus, was a strong critic of the single desk export system and pushed hard for deregulation of the wheat marketing arrangement.
Robert Green, AGEA president, claimed deregulation had seen a number of accomplishments and advancements within the industry, and that participants had reacted favourably to the changes.
"Contrary to some reports, the huge nation-wide process of harvest, transport, storage, handling and marketing has worked extremely well," Mr Green said.
"Very large volumes of wheat have been shipped by both bulk and container freight since harvest."
Since the beginning of harvest, Wheat Exports Australia reports that more than 5.2 million tonnes of bulk wheat has been exported by 15 accredited exporters to 35 countries.
Mr Green said this logistical effort was a testament to the industry's ability to manage grain marketing and exports in a deregulated environment.
He poured scorn on the argument that the deregulation of the industry had a destabilising effect due to instability in the supply chain.
According to Mr Green, Australian wheat is in strong demand globally and growers now have more flexible access to a selection of accredited buyers, offering a variety of marketing options.
However, single desk crusader Jock Munro, Rankin Springs, NSW, said he had been in touch with international customers who said they had used diplomatic channels to notify our government of Australia's inability to supply wheat on time and their decision to source grain from other nations which could, including Canada and the USA.
But Mr Green, while acknowledging the logistical problems that have plagued the ports said the Australian market was now more functional and transparent than when AWB ran the single desk.
"Grain price movements reflect international and local market conditions which in turn are influenced by supply and demand trends," he said.
"It's a case of transparency and clear market signals, and the trade having systems in place to manage market risk."
He said exporters were prepared and ready for deregulation, though the transport task to service the excellent demand for Australian wheat had been underestimated.
"While there may have been large ship queues and long delays which highlight a need for logistical changes and infrastructure investment, the grain has been efficiently accumulated and marketed, and payments have flowed smoothly."
The spotlight has been on WA, due to the drought on the eastern seaboard last year.
"The fact that the CBH Group shipped a record monthly tonnage of 1.54 million tonnes of grain in March 2009 demonstrates that the deregulated marketing system is working successfully," Mr Green said.
"However, in spite of this, many exporters have experienced long delays and incurred considerable costs so we still have a lot of work to do on the inland supply chain."
To date, WA has exported 5.04 million tonnes of grain from the total 12.3 million tonne 2008-09 WA grain crop, and is likely to export record tonnages through to the end of August.
"Even so, it is important that there is a long-term shipping allocation system across the nation, and exporters will participate in the process to find the solution. Industry can and will work this out as we develop a stronger, more efficient and competitive wheat export industry," Mr Green said.
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