CBH Group has announced a $128 million surplus for the year to September 2018, compared to the previous year’s result of $248 million which was boosted by a record grain harvest.
Lobsters were sold for as little as $30 per kilogram under an initiative to encourage domestic supply, according to an unpublished government report which found the Local Lobster Program at least partially met two major objectives but also raised numerous concerns.
Fisheries Minister Dave Kelly has signalled he may well walk back plans to take control of about 17 per cent of an enlarged local lobster catch, saying his priorities would be an International Lobster Festival in Perth and a domestic quota.
Crayfishermen will consider paying more in royalties to the state government as an alternative to Fisheries Minister Dave Kelly’s planned takeover of new licences, while concerns continue about the fragility of price premiums in the Chinese export market.
Opponents continue to blast government changes to lobster licensing arrangements as it emerges that, despite the state potentially pocketing nearly $70 million annually from the moves, a cost benefit analysis of the major policy shift unveiled in December was not undertaken.
Western Australian grain growers have had one of their best ever years, with 16 million tonnes moving through cooperative handler CBH Group’s network, about 400,000 tonnes above August estimates.
Fremantle-based Ocean Grown Abalone has been granted a licence to develop 5,000 artificial reefs to harvest greenlip abalone at the company’s Flinders Bay lease, located in Augusta.
Andrew Forrest’s agribusiness portfolio is set for a big expansion, with his Harvest Road Group planning a 60,000 head per year cattle development worth up to $50 million in the wheatbelt.
The state government has assured fishing industry representatives it has no plans to change how it determines catch limits across the sector after a surprise move last week to create, and take control of, new licences for local lobsters.
Exporters have agreed to place a three-month moratorium on sheep exports to the Middle East, months after TV footage revealed poor conditions on board a live export vessel departing Fremantle.
Wellard shareholders have given the cattle exporter’s remuneration report a strike for the second time in three years at today’s annual meeting in Fremantle.
Shark Bay shellfish producer Mareterram is set to report a fall in earnings for 2018 due to a significant reduction in prawn catch compared with last year.
The production ramp-up at iron ore miner Roy Hill Holdings has helped the company lift annual profit by 69 per cent, in turn boosting the annual earnings of its major shareholder, Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting.
The $145 million Quintis recapitalisation deal was completed today, handing control of the sandalwood company to its creditors, led by US group Blackrock.
Fremantle-based seafood wholesaler and jewellery manufacturer MG Kailis Group has achieved its second consecutive year of profits, after a decade of losses, despite a 14 per cent fall in revenue.
Melbourne-based Delta Group has been awarded two contracts in Western Australia, with a $4.2 million demolition job for the state government and work for CBH Group.
SPECIAL REPORT: The state’s agriculture sector has been ruffled by falling exports and revenues, coupled with growing animal welfare concerns and international competition.