A BAND of Geraldton zone growers have again collaborated to export a shipment of high protein wheat to Indonesia.
The group of about 20 growers signed the private treaty agreement with CBH, which allowed them to accumulate and ship 25,000 tonnes with the help of grain marketer and accredited exporter Plum Grove.
Plum Grove executive chairman Andrew Young said it wasn't the first time the same group of growers would export a cargo from the Geraldton port.
"These guys have been doing it for a couple of years now and Plum Grove has been working with them during this time," he said.
"They're not working outside of CBH and the farmer group has a policy of not making any comment to the media."
Mr Young said two years ago the grower group formed with an aim to squeeze as much of a premium from their harvest as possible while creating a first-hand relationship with their overseas customers.
He said Plum Grove provided access to such buyers within the South East Asian market.
"The upcoming shipment will be sent to the same customer as last year," Mr Young said.
"It was made up of a special grade that we had to make up a new name for because it had very tight specs.
"It was of a higher quality than APW."
Mr Young said the segregation would be delivered into Indonesia's instant noodle market which this time had targeted substantially higher protein numbers and tighter specification bands on a number of quality parameters.
He also said there was opportunity for growers to repeat the exercise next year, keeping in mind the impacts of the seasons.
"Geraldton zone growers had a great production year in 2011-12 but protein scores were down almost a full per cent," Mr Young said.
"In 2012-13 they had a 40pc reduction in production but the quality of their wheat crops was at least a per cent higher in terms of protein measurements.
"It's a seasonal issue but in theory growers banding together to work a cargo-sized sales program will always attract some sort of premium for their grain.
"It's worth persevering with."
Mr Young said heightened grain quality, supply chain efficiencies, direct customer contact and the offering of a large grain parcel to the industry was all completed with the objective of attracting more money for the growers.
And so far it had been a very positive outcome from the growers' perspective.
Mr Young also highlighted CBH's role in the recent deal.
He said CBH had been very accommodating in providing the opportunity for growers to establish the commercial private treaty arrangement and by making storage space available for the cargo.
CBH Geraldton zone manager Duncan Gray said whether the same type of shipment happened again, only time would tell.
"CBH was involved in the private treaty of the 25,000t in a way that is no different to the way it deals with CBH Grain or Emerald shipments," he said.
"The private treaty was in line with CBH's guidelines and it was nothing new, anybody can do it."
He said the way CBH handled the cargo was obviously dependant on the season.
"If it's a big crop season it's a little more difficult to arrange than in a smaller season like last year when we were able to arrange the export schedule with less complications," Mr Gray said.
On the subject of growers bypassing the CBH system Mr Gray said it wasn't his place to comment.
He also told Farm Weekly it was far too early to tell how the Geraldton port zone would perform in the 2013-14 season.
The northern part of the zone missed out on recent scattered rains while growers in the south of the zone received up to 40 millimetres last week.
"It would be really nice to see a bit more between now and Anzac Day," Mr Gray said.