WAFarmers in Port win

Grain grower lobbyist WAFarmers has had a win for its members, convincing the federal government to waive port regulations for grower co-operatives, on the same day CBH announced its estimated freight fees for next season.

In a June submission, the association argued that cooperatives should receive an exemption because they are owned and controlled by growers for their benefit rather than external shareholders.

Grains Council president Kim Simpson said WAFarmers was committed to driving improved competitiveness in the industry.

“While we would have preferred to see a repeal of the Wheat Exporting Act 2008, our second preference was to have co-operatives exempted from regulation to reduce supply chain costs, and we have been successful in achieving this,” he said.

“A mandatory code of conduct has huge potential for differential regulation across port operators, which could favour new entrants including large multinational companies, which ultimately decreases the global competitiveness of WA grain growers.

“Under some of the unsuccessful proposed options, there was an economic incentive for new entrants to adopt their business structure to avoid regulation, severely disadvantaging existing exporters forced to comply with port regulations.”

Also today, CBH Group has announced a below CPI increase in freight costs for the upcoming harvest.

Rates have been estimated to increase by 1 per cent across most sites, but those on former Tier 3 rail lines will increase further due to the closure of the service.