Australia: ABB Grain Ltd will provide August advance

ABB Grain Ltd (ABB) announced on July 26 that it will provide an optional advance on 25 August for growers who delivered barley to its Standard Pool and Traditional Pool for the 2004/05 season.

The advance for malting barley will be A$30/t for South Australia and Victoria, and for feed barley the advance will be A$20/t for the South Australian pools and A$15/t for the Victorian and New South Wales pools.

For growers who delivered to the Standard Pool, the advance increases the amount that was loaned to growers at harvest. The loan is optional and growers can choose not to receive the advance if they would prefer not to increase their harvest loan.

In the case of the Traditional Pool, the advance is a straight payment. For those who opt not to receive the advance, this payment will be deferred until the final payment scheduled for June 2006.

Deductions to be made from the advance are GRDC and NRS levies, and VFF levies where applicable. The balance of the bulk handling charges will also be deducted (SA - A$6.50/t malting, A$4.50/t feed; Vic - A$8/t malting, A$6/t feed; NSW - A$4/t feed). In South Australia, malting 3 barley will be subject to 20% of sliding scale adjustments.

ABB Grain as it exists today was formed by the merger of three South Australian based grain companies, ABB Grain, AusBulk Ltd and United Grower Holdings in late September 2004. The merger was achieved through a share swap in which shareholders of AusBulk and UGH swapped their shares for shares in ABB, with AusBulk, UGH and their assets becoming wholly-owned entities of ABB.

Based in South Australia, ABB accumulates grain from all the grain growing regions in Australia and New Zealand including barley, wheat, sorghum, canola, oats, field peas, faba beans, triticale, chickpeas, lupins, lentils, rye, safflower and maize.

ABB exports these commodities to around 40 countries from storage facilities across Australia, but significantly from its own network in South Australia, which comprises 111 silos and 7 export shipping terminals with a capacity of more than 10 million tonnes.

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