CBH Building New Oat Facility in Western Australia
CBH Group announced its plan to build a new oat processing facility at the Metro Grain Center outside of Perth.
The decision to move forward on the project comes on the heels of the group’s acquisition of Blue Lake Milling, one of Australia’s to oat suppliers in June 2015, and is part of the group’s goal of becoming a key vertically integrated oat supplier. With the addition of the new facility, CBH is looking to process 60,000 tons of oats, doubling Blue Lake Milling’s current capacity.
“Through the investment in BLM we have acquired the skills and capability to further grow Australian oat processing and fulfil the growing export demand,” said Wally Newman, CBH Group chairman in a company statement. “This investment grows our oat processing business to improve returns to the cooperative, increase rebates to growers and strengthen demand for WA oats.”
The new facility, which is expected to open in December 2017 and will cost in the “tens of millions of dollars”, will take over CBH’s former lupin dehulling plant at the Metro Grain Center which will reduce the cost of the project by at least 50% due to the existing infrastructure.
“Once complete the new processing facility will make BLM the largest independent oat processor in the Australasian region,” said Ben Abbot, Blue Lake Milling chief executive officer “The new Western Australian plant will enable the BLM business to increase its ability to service the growing Asian demand for oat products; using locally grown oats.”
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