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Grains in brief
17 Sep 2008
Ukraine's leading sunflower oil producer Kernel Holdings has bought a large bulk grain export terminal in the Black Sea port of Iliychivsk in the Ukraine. It’s the Ukraine's second largest grain terminal, with a loading capacity of up to 4.5m tonnes of grain annually and it can store 200,000 tonnes. The terminal is capable of loading panamax-size vessels.
Ukraine has the capacity to export more than 25m tonnes of grain each
year, has storage capacities of about 1.6m tonnes, and plans to export
more than 13m tonnes in 2008/09.
The Kenya Port Authority is reported to have brought to an end an eight-year monopoly on grain handling in Mombasa by refusing to renew an agreement with Grain Bulk Handlers Ltd.
The introduction of competition is expected to reduce the cost of storage and handling, and yet yield a greater profit for KPA, which intends to announce which additional grain handling company will be allowed to operate in Mombasa by September.
… and another in Australia
The way wheat is shipped from Australia is on the brink of a new era as the second stage in a two-stage sea-change takes place.
The Government loosened the grip of the Australian Wheat Board last year when it made exports of wheat in containers and bags exempt from the board’s monopoly, before doing away with the monopoly completely at the beginning of July this year.
Last year’s box’n’bag de-regulation had brought a significant increase in demand, according to ABB Grain, which has exported about 19,000 containers of wheat – almost 400,000 tonnes.
The company, which is Australia's top barley exporter, is already a significant user of shipping containers for exporting grain, pulses and oilseeds as well as malt and wool.
Given the company’s strong relationships with barley buyers, particularly in Japan and the Middle East, it is looking forward to a mutually-beneficial relationship in the future.
Taking the bull by the horns
They’re bullish in Buffalo about the potential for long-mothballed grain silos – but there’s not a bread loaf or a cornflake in sight.
This surge of economic activity is based on the potential for an ethanol plant, with grain silos mothballed several years ago being recommissioned with a view to the nearby creation of an ethanol production plant next year with associated grain storage and shipping businesses by a company called RiverWright.
Container weighing system trialled
Trucks with container-locking twistlocks incorporating load cells are being trialled by a grain-hander in Australia’s Darling Downs. The system is designed to prevent under or over filling of containers at the inland loading facility, which will in turn remove the need for unnecessary road journeys to adjust the volume of the load. ‘As-augered’ weights are recorded by the system and are confirmed by taking the containers to weighbridge a few kilometers away to measure the system’s accuracy.
