GRAIN handlers are reporting receival figures surpassing the 2019-20 season and stacking up with five-year averages, as the SA harvest winds up for another year.
With the Lower South East the only region still to harvest significant volumes, the state's total crop production looks set to reach or surpass PIRSA's November estimate of 8.8 million tonnes from an area of 4m hectares.
It will be the best harvest since the bumper 2016-17 crop and above the state's 10-year average of 7.9mt - a good result for growers and handlers after a growing season full of uncertainty caused by a dry winter and the COVID-19 pandemic.
While finishing rains played havoc with hay cuts, they were of benefit to graingrowers and did not have a significant impact on harvest operations, except for some early starters.
Viterra operations manager Michael Hill said while some regions experienced delays due to wet weather, the impact was limited by longer opening hours and reduced turnaround times.
Viterra has received 5.7mt into its network this harvest, compared to 4mt at the same time last year.
"The 2020-21 harvest is about average, based on our receivals for the past five years," he said.
Mr Hill said there had been strong demand, with 25 different buyers already purchasing new season grain.
"SA grain has been competitive into international markets and we have 11 exporters with bookings over the season sending wheat, barley, canola and pulses to multiple international destinations as we return to a more export-focused supply chain," he said.
Viterra expects to outturn 1.8mt of grain by the end of January.
Cargill Australia have had their best receivals since the 2016-17 harvest at their GrainFlow sites at Pinnaroo, Maitland, Crystal Brook and Mallala, according to general manager - commercial Grant McDougall.
He said the company had taken in more than 500,000t of wheat and barley at the four sites, with some grain still trickling into Pinnaroo and Crystal Brook.
"The quality profile of the crop has been very good and we've had no weather-related quality issues," he said.
"There's been very limited downgrading so generally all of the wheat has been of milling quality."
On the Eyre Peninsula, the T-Ports site at Lucky Bay is still receiving grain, while its Lock site has closed.
T-Ports chief executive officer Kieran Carvill said the company was well-supported this harvest, with a 40 per cent year-on-year increase of growers delivering to Lock and Lucky Bay.
"We are very pleased with the amount of grain received this year and it represents a significant increase on grain received in the 2019-20 harvest," he said.
"It is however lower than we would have expected, due to lower yields."
Mr Carvill said while this season was better than the last for most of the region's growers, it was still 20pc below the 10-year average.
With work beginning at T-Ports new Wallaroo facility, Mr Carvill said there were "a number of apparently viable options" for further expansion, but no decisions had been made as yet.
"We are careful to plan what we are going to do before announcing it, which in turn, ensures we do what we say we will do, in antithesis to some others," he said.
Also mulling expansion is Brad Griffiths - head of new receival player Plains Grain.
Mr Griffiths said the recently-completed bunker storage site at Mallala had received 40,000t of grain, including 16,000t of lentils, in its first harvest.
"We got to 40,000t and probably could have taken more, but we'd filled up and logistics prevented us from taking more," he said.
"There's certainly room for improvement and room to expand. In the next few weeks we'll analyse what we did right and what we did wrong and if we do have an appetite for expansion, we'll probably go down that path."
At Bordertown, Pilgrim Grain Storage owner Darren Pilgrim said they had taken close to 40,000t of beans, making up nearly half of their total receivals.
"We will probably end up taking between 85,000t to 90,000t," he said.
"We've taken a lot more grain this year than last year."
Yields across the Tatiara were strong, with Mr Pilgrim estimating district averages ranged from 3.5t/ha on canola, to 4t/ha for beans - double last season's results - and up to 5.5t/ha on wheat.
Mr Pilgrim said while cereals had finished, they were expecting receivals of oats for another two weeks.
"We take oats for Blue Lake Milling and they're all coming from further south and a lot of those guys have only just started (reaping)," he said.
- Start the day with all the big news in agriculture. Sign up here to receive our daily Stock Journal newsletter.
