CBH harvest deliveries at 3.9 million tonnes in WA

Over the course of the week, 1.4 million tonnes was received by CBH Group taking total deliveries to 3.9mt, compared to 4.7mt this time last year.

CBH chief operations officer Mick Daw said along with the considerable rainfall, some areas throughout the central Wheatbelt also reported hail and loss of crop.

"Despite this slow and frustrating start to the harvest period for both growers and our operations team, some of our sites have still managed to break daily receival records," Mr Daw said.

"Some growers are still reporting yields higher than expected and protein in the northern part of the State is also higher than expected at this stage which is a fantastic result.

"We do, however, anticipate that this will place some pressure on some sites and services across the network with some sites expected to fill and close."

CBH is monitoring the situation and working through how it is managed, with growers who can deliver directly to port encouraged to do so.

In the Geraldton zone, warm weather at the beginning of last week helped increase the pace of harvest, with wheat deliveries picking up.

However, a wet end to the week slowed things down again.

As of Monday, the zone had received 1.47mt, with 48 per cent of that wheat, 35pc canola, 11pc lupins and 0.5pc feed barley.

Yields and quality are still going above expectations, leading to both the Binnu and Northampton sites breaking daily receival records with 6232t and 7984t respectively.

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For Kwinana North, a weeks' worth of good harvesting conditions saw receivals pick up with a total of 1.23mt received.

Merredin and Koorda both broke daily receival records, receiving 16,761t and 10,535t respectively.

"The zone is now receiving all commodities and grain quality has been good with yields higher than expected in some areas," Mr Daw said.

"The majority of sites are open throughout each area, with the average zone cycle time sitting at 41.5 minutes."

Wet weather continued to impact harvesting across the Kwinana South zone, with most growers losing on average two days of harvesting last week.

Only 11pc of the expected volumes for Kwinana South have been received so far, whereas this time last year the zone had received about 19pc.

"Growers are mostly still delivering canola, but a few have signalled that they will be coming to an end of canola harvesting within the coming week," Mr Daw said.

"Wheat and barley volumes are ramping up, but these are still at least six weeks away from peaking."

A number of Kwinana South sites have reduced operating hours due to wet weather across the zone, with cycle times slightly up from last year.

Rain in the Esperance zone ranged from six to 35 millimetres last week, causing harvest progress to be slow due to high moisture issues.

Dominant commodities are still canola and barley, with volumes of malt barley slowly increasing and wheat still very slow.

The average cycle time is 55.5 minutes across the network.

Growers in the Albany zone have also been battling high moisture levels and rain events.

The total grain received is 255,000t with the majority canola, with some barley and oats starting to be delivered.

"The Lake Grace and Jerramungup areas have had the most receivals to date," Mr Daw said.

"Hyden broke its daily receival record twice in consecutive days with 6pc of the grain received on those days being canola."

All areas in the zone now have sites which are open with the average cycle time sitting at 41.7 minutes.