Australia delays Viterra grain port auction plan

Australia’s competition regulator has halted a proposal by grain handler Viterra to auction port capacity after similar auctions in other parts of the country have exposed problems allocating capacity despite a bumper harvest. Viterra, Canada’s largest grain handler, has been working on plans to introduce an auction system to allocate port terminal capacity in South


Australian Trade Minister Supports End To Single Desk

Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz has a new high-profile ally in his quest to end the Canadian Wheat Board s (CWB) single desk Australian trade minister Craig Emerson. The Australian Wheat Board s export monopoly ended in 2008 and Emerson said it has been a great success. The Australian experience has been unambiguously good, he said

Agrium Sees AWB As A Platform For Retail Growth – for Sep. 9, 2010

Fertilizer maker and farm products retailer Agr ium Inc. sees Australia’s AWB as the perfect platform to continue expanding its global retail network, said a top company executive Aug. 16. Agrium has launched an unsolicited $1.1 billion bid to acquire AWB, Australia’s largest wheat exporter, trumping a rival offer from Australia’s GrainCorp. “The key is



Australia’s GrainCorp To Buy Rival AWB – for Aug. 5, 2010

SYDNEY/REUTERS Australia’s GrainCorp has agreed to take over smaller rival AWB in an A$855 million (US$769.6 million) all-share deal that will create the country’s top grain exporter and the world’s fourth-largest commercial malt producer. GrainCorp said July 30 its offer would create a combined group with a market capitalization of more than A$2 billion that


Australia May Abolish Remaining Wheat Export Rules

Australia’s wheat-marketi ng regulations should be abolished by September next year, the country’s Productivity Commission said in a draft report released March 22. It said the A$13.9-billion ($12.7-billion) industry, the world’s fourth-largest exporter of the grain, had proved adaptable following the end of a single-desk marketing system for bulk wheat since mid-2008. “The commission considers

In Brief… – for Oct. 8, 2009

Conditions worsen: Violence on Zimbabwe’s farms, once the country’s economic mainstay, is worsening, the country’s Commercial Farmers Union said on Sept. 30. Many white farmers have been evicted from land by President Robert Mugabe’s government since 2000, as part of a land reform program credited with causing a slump in agriculture. “The reality is that


Viterra, ABB Grain Come To Terms

“If (Viterra) did something else big after this, before this got some traction, then we think they might… bite off more than they can chew.” – ANIL PASSI OF CREDIT RATI NG AGENCY DBRS Canada’s top grain handler has agreed to buy Australia’s ABB Grain in a US$1.2 billion share-and-cash deal, giving Viterra better access

Australia’s GrainCorp, Cargill Reconfigure Partnerships

Global commodities firm Cargill Inc. and Australia’s GrainCorp Ltd. will end a grain-buying joint venture after the scrapping of Australia’s wheat export monopoly made the two competitors. Cargill will buy GrainCorp’s holding in Australian Grain Accumulation (AGA) Services for an undisclosed amount, GrainCorp said on April 3. GrainCorp will form a new grain-buying team, while