CBH opens fertiliser facility

CBH Group has officially opened its new fertiliser plant in Kwinana with CBH chair Simon Stead and Agriculture and Food Minister Jackie Jarvis unveiling the facility this morning.

The warehouse has capacity to hold 55,000 tonnes of granular fertiliser, while the tanks will hold 32,000t of liquid fertiliser.

The first shipment is scheduled for next week.

Ms Jarvis said the new facility celebrated CBH’s continued investment in the grain supply chain.

“This venture will ensure that growers have easy access to one of their key raw inputs, fertiliser,”she said.

“It will enable CBH to expand its global granular fertiliser offering, provide consistency to growers and enables CBH to enter the liquid fertiliser market for the first time.”

Ms Jarvis said the fertiliser facility would reduce storage, handling and freight costs.

The construction took 12 months to complete and Mr Stead said he was impressed with the quick turnaround from sod-turning to official opening.

“We’re on time and we’re on budget while across the state and the country we’re hearing so many stories about problems people are having to deliver projects like this,” he said.

Simon Stead and Jackie Jarvis officially opening the facility. Photo: Liv Declerck

Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King said the CBH grain terminal was the largest grain-handling facility in the Southern Hemisphere.

“The importance of what CBH does for our regional food security cannot be underestimated especially the grain that goes to Indonesia and Japan and other countries,” she said.

“This fertiliser plant is just another really big step for CBH and shows [the company’s] participation in the community and link between the metropolitan area and here in Kwinana and Rockingham, and now the Wheatbelt.

“There are record crops year on year, and I think the last harvest was over 22 million tonnes, which is a remarkable achievement for the over 3,500 growers out in the Wheatbelt doing all this work.”

Ms King said this new chapter of WA fertiliser supply would help growers as it would be more affordable and offer a more secure supply chain.

Madeleine King at the opening of the new CBH facility . Photo: Liv Declerck