THE CBH Group has opened a new 20,000 tonne fertiliser storage facility in Esperance.
After achieving a 47 per cent increase in sales last year, CBH's fertiliser business has entered a new phase of growth with the Esperance facility now fully operational.
CBH chairman Simon Stead said it was an exciting step towards delivering significant benefits to graingrowers.
"As a core function of the co-operative, CBH Fertiliser is committed to delivering on the strategy of reducing grower's onfarm input costs and improving the consistency of fertiliser supply in Western Australia," Mr Stead said.
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"The opening of our new Esperance facility will enable us to bring surety of supply to Esperance growers and bring further competitiveness to the market."
CBH head of fertiliser David Pritchard said they were aiming to fill a gap in the market given the remoteness of the Esperance port zone.
"We have also seen demand for fertiliser, particularly nitrogen, grow exponentially in recent years, with the existing market struggling to keep pace during key times," Mr Pritchard said.
"Growers in the Esperance area have continued to support CBH from a marketing, storage and handling point of view so we are looking forward to working with growers and bringing further competitiveness to the fertiliser market."
"We hope to execute 25,000 tonnes at the site this year, which will enable us to get the process right and get growers comfortable with new competition."
Located 3.5 kilometres north-west of the Esperance Port on Flinders Circuit in Chadwick, the facility is owned by Qube and operated by CBH Fertiliser.
The purpose-built warehouse is designed for fertiliser storage, blending and loading of trucks with a full range of granular phosphates, nitrogen, potash and sulphur products.
CBH Fertiliser has installed the latest Yargus blending equipment to allow for accurate and high-capacity blending of multiple products plus specialties such as liquid copper, zinc and fungicides.
Designed with segregations inside, the facility includes a drive-through, under cover area for trucks, a CBH owned and operated front-end loader and a weighbridge to allow for greater control of costs and efficiencies at the site.
Despite a volatile global fertiliser market from a price and supply perspective, CBH Fertiliser has ensured all shipments contracted for 2022 arrive on time.
"We strongly believe that we have set the benchmark for urea pricing across the past few months and are happy to share this pricing with growers to continually challenge input costs," Mr Pritchard said.
