THE major bulk handler of grain on the east coast, GrainCorp, has spoken out against the push for a mandatory stocks reporting system to be implemented across the country.
Grower groups, including national peak body Grain Producers Australia (GPA), have been lobbying hard for a greater degree of stocks reporting from major bulk handlers across the country.
They are advocating for the release of information by pay grade by port zone, including sold and unsold grain stocks.
The grower groups want to see a scheme mandated by government, claiming there is not sufficient value in the information currently voluntarily disclosed by the major bulk handlers.
However, GrainCorp managing director Mark Palmquist said while his organisation supported stocks information being released to the public, he said it should not be mandatory and that on-farm storage of grain needed to be included in any program.
“GrainCorp supports stocks information disclosure that can generate value for grain growers and the industry,” Mr Palmquist said.
“We also support a voluntary scheme that provides a full picture, including all storage providers and grain held on-farm.”
Mr Palmquist said any scheme that ignored stocks held on-farm or in smaller bulk handling facilities would be so flawed as to not be worth it.
“A scheme that ignores a large portion of the crop would not lead to the best outcome,” he said.
However, Pete Mailler, a former GPA chairman who played a key role during his time with GPA in pushing for more detailed stocks reporting, said the key would be getting the major bulk handlers to release more information.
He said that as export volumes and domestic use were both able to be relatively accurately estimated, the industry could work out what was being stored on-farm by subtracting supplies in the bulk handling from the estimated use patterns.
“You can get a reflection on what is going on regarding on-farm stocks, the key is to get more detailed and more timely releases from the bulk handlers,” Mr Mailler said.
He nominated a figure of 10,000 tonnes of storage as the cut-off for being required to provide information.
“I think the small private storages and large growers would have the necessary record keeping skills to be able to provide the stocks information we are after,” Mr Mailler said.
Mr Palmquist said he did not feel stocks information models such as that suggested by GPA would be in the best interest of growers as it revealed too much to competing foreign interests.
“The interests of growers and industry are actually strongly aligned on this issue – we all want strong international demand and the best possible price for Australian grain,” said Mr Palmquist.
“To include grain quality data would be difficult as this data could be used against us by competing supply chains in other parts of the world.”
