The Australian grain industry is shifting as Bunge has shipped its first grain shipment of 18,000 tons of wheat bound for Cebu, in the Philippines out of its new $40 million terminal at Bunbury Port in Western Australia. This will be the first shipment from Bunbury after CBH closed its terminal in the 1980’s and the first from outside the farmer-controlled co-operative network. Now that the port is complete and in operation, Bunge is set to ship more wheat and a shipment of barley to the Middle East, but the company is focusing more on preparing for the new harvest. Attention is being redirected to establishing a supply chain by promoting on-farm storage systems and entering into discussions with several private storage operators in order to accumulate the grain needed to ship through the port. Bunge has obtained approval from the government to transport 500,000 tons of grain by truck to Bunbury within the first two years of operation, which will likely become an alternate transportation option for growers affected by the Tier 3 rail network closure.
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