THE first shipment of new season grain has been loaded at Viterra's Port Lincoln terminal, kicking off a busy grain shipping schedule.
Glencore Agriculture's vessel has been loaded at night to ensure grower deliveries are managed efficiently during the loading of 26,500 tonnes of wheat bound for Yemen.
Glencore Agriculture senior wheat trader Simon Gellert said Yemen was a regular export market for Australian grain.
"Australia's reputation for low moisture, high quality white wheat provides benefits to wheat millers and other end users," he said.
"Australia has experienced consistent demand from Yemen who have taken on average 800,000t a year over the past five seasons despite our weather impacting production volumes.
"We are able to provide a high level of confidence to export markets and end use customers when sourcing our grain through the Viterra network because of the rigorous supply chain procedures and track record of providing the highest standard of quality management and guaranteeing the food safety of grain."
Viterra western region operations manager Nick Pratt said the company had four exporters with shipping booked out of Port Lincoln for November and December, with grain bound for domestic and international export markets.
"We are running 24-hour operations at Port Lincoln to load vessels at night, using the terminal's infrastructure off-peak, to ensure we maximise efficiency for harvest receivals from Eyre Peninsula growers," he said.
