Australia: Broadbent Grain Buys Major Grain Handling Site

Last year Rabobank issued a report ‘Australian Grain – Infrastructure Growing Pains’, which forecasted that the Australian grain industry was poised for a period of significant change. Currently it is going through a period of massive investment which Rabobank senior analyst, Graydon Chong, states could easily exceed $150 million.

Building upon this wave of investment, which is the biggest the industry has seen in a decade, Broadbent Grains, which is 50% owned by U.S.-based grain, food and energy giant, CHS, has bought a 63 acre grain handling site in New South Wales for $6.6 million. The site includes 44,000 tons of warehouse storage, 3,700 tons of silo storage, and the ability to receive up to 700 tons of grain per hour. Broadbent has announced that it will take immediate control of the site formerly known as Agripark from McGregor Agricultural Services.

The country’s grain handling infrastructure has seen multiple investments with the Quattro consortium’s Port Kembla and Newcastle Agri terminal, and Bunge’s new terminal in Western Australia. Rabobank notes that deregulation has sparked increased competition and that the investments seen at the ports are now being seen upcountry also.

The new grain infrastructure developments on the eastern seaboard and in Western Australia are expected to shift how those in the industry operate in regard to each other, and point toward a shift toward exclusive supply chains and long term supply contracts.