GROWERS in Western Australia are still facing a large differential between local and international commodity prices, but that's only if they're able to sell their grain in the first place.
With limits on the amount of tonnes CBH Group is able to buy each day, contract limits for some commodities, in some zones, are being filled within minutes of prices going live.
Growers are attempting to use multiple devices to login into LoadNet to sell their grain to CBH's Marketing and Trading division, but with many limited by poor internet service, only a small percentage are getting tonnes contracted.
In an email sent last week, CBH head of accumulations Trevor Lucas said over the past two weeks CBH grain prices had attracted significant demand from WA growers, resulting in some commodities filling daily accumulation limits quickly.
"Clearly many growers and consultants are frustrated with the situation," Mr Lucas said.
"Unfortunately the fundamental factors limiting CBH accumulation demand are difficult to change - namely record grain carryover, record grain production and limited shipping capacity."
Ongerup farmer Beau Vaux said it was a tough situation as CBH did not have the logistics right to move grain from two successive massive harvests, creating a negative basis due to carry-over from 2021/22.
"I think what CBH is doing in terms of releasing a small amount of tonnes at better prices is a good thing," Mr Vaux said.
"However, it creates a divide as they are trying to push people to LoadNet and older farmers or farmers with bad internet connection are at a disadvantage."
With the issues selling grain getting worse by the day, CBH announced it would implement a 200-tonne limit per contract per day for all commodities and grades once they are posted on LoadNet.
While growers are still able to contact their local business relationship manager (BRM) or the Grower Service Centre (GSC), the CBH team is using the same pricing and contract access and processes as provided to growers on LoadNet.
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Due to extremely high call volumes, Mr Lucas said contacting BRMs and/or the GSC was not recommended given the time wasted sitting in queue, which would be time better spent for growers to sell grain on LoadNet themselves.
"Over the past couple of weeks CBH have, on a few occasions, attempted to support growers who have struggled to make a sale, providing them access to 200t contracts," he said.
"Unfortunately this has resulted in an untenable situation with our frontline teams being bombarded with growers wanting access to 'the list'.
"Whilst we continue to reserve the right to support growers via internal contracting, it will not be common practice, so please do not direct your growers to ring the BRM or GSC, as 'the list' does not exist."
Over the past few weeks, CBH M&T has consistently been posting competitive prices at what it states are closer to reflecting international values, regardless of the price levels other buyers are bidding.
These daily grain prices have contributed to an unprecedented surge in grower demand to sell to M&T, with the division having already bought more tonnes from growers than compared to this time last year during the 2021/22 record harvest.
Clear Grain Exchange managing director Nathan Cattle said the bids CBH were releasing, regardless of whether growers were able to sell into it on the day, provided another component of growers' price discovery.
"This is a significant behavioural change from CBH's grain trading arm and I think can provide an important new piece of price discovery for Australian growers with ripple effects through the industry," Mr Cattle said.
That ripple effect is exactly what CBH is trying to achieve, with M&T committed to adjusting its market presence to create opportunities for more growers to consider and participate.
For Mr Vaux, he said it was great for those who could get tonnes and were cashing in and he recognised it was better than CBH buying more tonnes at reduced rates and not being able to ship them.
"I have managed to get some tonnes during this period which is nice and CBH is well above all the other marketers," Mr Vaux said.
"But it is a bitter pill to swallow when we are looking at record global prices and we are not seeing them.
"I don't know the figure as to what profit we have missed out on, but apparently it is in the billions."
Having recognised the issues with executing contracts on LoadNet, CBH made the decision to stagger the release of prices by zone, on a trial basis starting from last Friday.
That release started with the Geraldton zone at 12pm, before moving to the Kwinana, Albany and Esperance zones in 30 minute increments.
Both the 200t limit and the staggered pricing was something which Manmanning grower Russell Inman said CBH should have implemented sooner.
"CBH has been selling grain above market value and while I've got some little snippets, I would have liked to capture more of that, as I'm sure many other growers would," Mr Inman said.
"There wasn't a lot of thought that went into this process, as you would think being a co-operative CBH would have tried to ensure there was an equal share from the beginning.
"I know people who haven't been able to sell any tonnes, so there should have been processes in place sooner to make sure everyone does get a fair allocation."
