Weekly Agribusiness News Recap

By: "Farm Tender" News
Hay & Fodder News
Mar 01, 2019
716 views
Share

By Georgia Devenish - Agricultural Research Analyst at JLL

Grain

Grain handling group, Viterra, has announced that its current agreement with rail operators Genesse & Wyoming Australia will not be renewed. As a result rail haulage of grain on South Australia's Eyre Peninsula will be phased out and replaced by road transport options.

CBH Group has announced plans to spend in excess of $150 million to add 800,000 tonnes of new storage and associated inloading and outloading equipment to the Western Australian bulk-handling system. This follows more than 650,000 tonnes of new storage constructed last year.

Dairy

Dairy Australia has released its February situation and outlook report which indicates national production is expected to drop up to 9 percent on last year's figure. In the face of this declining trend, South Australian milk production has actually increased.

Ad - Make you next Shed and Entegra Shed - The best in the business - Ad

Bega Cheese is closing its Coburg cheddar and mozzarella factory flagging its capacity and city location could not support future growth. This comes on the heels of the company's announcement of plans to spend $34 million building a new lactoferrin extraction plant at the Koroit dairy plant which it acquired from Saputo for $250 million last July.

Australian Consolidated Milk is offering non-repayable water support payments to its northern milk suppliers. Used to help cover rising irrigation water costs, the grants are valued at 4 cents per kilogram of butterfat and 8 cents per kilogram of protein for all milk delivered this season. This comes on the back of a guaranteed floor price of $6.50 per kilogram of milk solids announced last week for dairy farmers who sign on by March 31.

Investment

Stafford Capital Partners is raising a $150 million fund focused on Australian farmland. The Stafford Australian Agricultural Real Estate Fund II will acquire and lease medium-sized row crop and grazing properties as well as associated water rights. According to the firm's head of agriculture and food investments, Jos Boeren, the fund has made its first acquisition. SAFF has also created a partnership with two established agricultural investment groups in Australia, one of which is reportedly Growth Farms.

Ruralco announced yesterday it will recommend its shareholders vote in favour of a $469 million takeover bid from Canadian agricultural giant Nutrien. Nutrien is also the parent company of Landmark. The deal will require regulatory approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board.

Ad - Make you next Shed and Entegra Shed - The best in the business - Ad

Nutrien was formed by the union of Canadian fertiliser companies, Agrium Inc and PotashCorp which was completed last year. Nutrien is the largest potash producer globally and the second largest manufacturer of nitrogenous fertilisers.

UK-based Saudi Agricultural Livestock Investment Company looks to be the likely buyer of John Nicolett's broadacre farming portfolio in the Wheatbelt of Western Australia. The sale, reportedly worth more than $70 million, involves 200,000 hectares of land spread across 30 separate farms. SALIC is a subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Melbourne-based investment company Evans Agribusiness Trading Group, owners of Australian Plant Proteins, is planning a $20 million investment to start extracting protein powder from pulses at a new manufacturing plant on the outskirts of Horsham, Victoria. An additional $15 million will be invested in a second phase of investment in 2021 with the scope to double production.

BioMar Australia's $56 million aqua feed mill is under construction at Wesley Vale, Tasmania. The company is having preliminary meetings with farmers in the region about opportunities to grow crops to provide the raw products for the new plant. The facility is expected to produce aqua feed by early 2020.

The New South Wales Government Minister for Forestry, Paul Toole, has announced that the Government is investing almost $40 million to support innovation and training in the state's forestry industry.

Ad - Make you next Shed and Entegra Shed - The best in the business - Ad

Lotte International, a South Korean conglomerate has purchased the Sandalwood feedlot at Dalby in the Darling Down's region of Queensland. Lotte Mart, an east Asian hypermarket chain, has been a substantial user of custom-feeding services at Sandalwood feedlot for the past five years. No price has been disclosed by Foreign Investment Review Board approval has been granted for the purchase.

Property

"Pine Hill Station", Alice Springs has been purchased by the Vickers family for more than $10 million. The 268,000 hectare property had been owned by Filipino property developer, Romeo Roxas who listed "Pine Hill" and two other stations - "Murray Downs" and "Epenarra Station" - for sale last year. Agents have said Mr Roxas has withdrawn "Murray Downs Station" from sale with plans to develop it further using funds from the "Pine Hill" transaction.

Greg and Sharon Vickers own property around Keith in South Australia as well as "Delmore Downs" and "Delny Station" in the Northern Territory.

Weather

The Bureau of Meteorology has released its updated 2019 Autumn Outlook. The report shows drier than average conditions are likely for large parts of northern and eastern Australia and warmer than average conditions for the entire country. This comes on the back of what will be Australia's warmest summer on record. The Bureau will release its summer summaries tomorrow afternoon.

Ad - Make you next Shed and Entegra Shed - The best in the business - Ad