CBH Fertiliser notches up back-to-back monthly records across Geraldton, Kwinana and Esperance

CBH Fertiliser is steaming towards its goal of hitting 15 per cent market share within the next 10 years after notching up sales and dispatch records in May and June across its three warehouses. It sold 45,000 tonnes across the four facilities in May and 59,500 tonnes in June, after what CBH Fertiliser head David Pritchard said was “aggressive selling” in March and April. The record-breaking months come eight years after the co-operative’s fertiliser spin off launched in the WA market in 2015, and during the two busiest months of the year for fertiliser sales. “We picked up a lot of growers’ early nitrogen demand, and farmers were looking to buy their first nitrogen application in February, March and April,” he said. “We wanted to capture some of those early interest tonnes.” The sales boom was in part attributed to the opening of CBH’s $59 million Kwinana Fertiliser Facility in March, which is poised to hit its 90,000 tonne sales goal within a matter of weeks. Mr Pritchard said CBH had set a goal of selling 90,000 tonnes from the facility between the opening in March and the end of CBH’s financial year on September 30 but looked set to hit that two months ahead of schedule. Overall, CBH had an annual goal of selling 205,000 tonnes across its three facilities by that same date, but now looks set to have sold 220,000t to 230,000t by then. Mr Pritchard called the healthy sales a “really good result”, in a year when overall demand for fertiliser was expected to dip after two years of near-record demand propelled by rainfall and high commodity prices. “Our market share will be up, because the overall tonnes (sold across WA) will be 5-10 per cent lower (compared to last year),” he said. “We will be heading towards 12 per cent market share which is a really good result for CBH.” CBH — the nation’s biggest grain marketer and handler — has always been vocal about its goal of snaring 15 per cent market share in WA’s highly-competitive fertiliser market, which includes heavyweight CSBP, as well as Nutrien Ag Solutions and Summit Fertilizers. The opening of the Kwinana Fertiliser Facility in March was hailed a big step towards that goal, with the ability to store 55,000 tonnes of granular product and 32,000 tonnes of liquid urea ammonium nitrate. “It also has two load-out points, previously we only had one blending plant (at Qube) and a static screen at Henderson so it was slow. Having two loading points and two blending plants has essentially resulted in a 50 per cent increase in capacity,” he said. “May and June were big months for CBH, which is testament to our operations team in our Kwinana sheds, Geraldton and Esperance. “May and June are traditionally when we execute (dispatch of) 50 per cent of our entire year.” CBH still has a granular fertiliser storage facility leased nearby with Qube, with plans to retain that until the end of the lease in 2026. Mr Pritchard said farmers were embracing its presence in the Esperance Port Zone after opening a storage facility there last year. “Volume is really up in Esperance, which tell us the farmers want us there,” he said. Mr Pritchard said the next milestones for CBH Fertiliser would include bringing in another UAN shipment later this year, and next year expanding operations at Kwinana. “Next year we will roll into a full season of seeding products and nitrogen from our new facility, and to open up our hours of operation with two shifts,” he said. “In theory, we could be open from 5am to 10pm at Kwinana.” For its Perth-based operations, 50 per cent of CBH’s fertiliser dispatches will this year come from Kwinana and the remainder from the Qube-leased facility nearby. Next year, that figure will change to 70/30 as it ramps up operations at the new Kwinana Fertiliser Facility. One of the big benefits of the facility is the ability to unload a vessel and load grower trucks at the same time. CBH reached another milestone in April when it received its first UAN shipment in history, 23,800t from the US. Albany farmers also hope CBH will enter the Great Southern market in coming years, with Mr Pritchard hinting in March that it was eyeing the region next after opening Esperance last year.