Canada: CWB reaches handling agreements with all western Canadian grain companies

CWB on August, 7 announced it has reached handling agreements with all western Canadian grain companies. Farmers can now deliver the wheat, durum and barley they contract with CWB to any elevator across the Prairies.

CWB president and CEO Ian White said an agreement was finalized earlier this week with 10 companies who will accept farmer deliveries of all CWB grain. The deal completes CWB's network of handling facility alliances.

The announcement includes agreements with Parrish & Heimbecker, Paterson Grain, Weyburn Inland Terminal, Prairie West Terminal, Providence Grain Group, Great Sandhills Terminal, North West Terminal, Lethbridge Inland Terminal, Westlock Terminal and Great Northern Grain. An agreement has also been reached for CWB to access port terminal handling at the Alliance Grain Terminal in Vancouver.

These companies now join Viterra, Cargill, Richardson Pioneer, Louis Dreyfus, Mission Terminal, West Central Road and Rail, South West Terminal, Delmar Commodities, Linear Grain and Agro Source as CWB grain-handling providers.

"The future is bright for CWB and the farmers we serve," White said. "We now have the necessary business arrangements in place to operate in the new grain-marketing environment.

"But farmers themselves are the most important part of our confidence and future success. Their support is crucial, and we have every indication that they see a strong role for CWB in their business plans."

As the Prairie harvest progresses, farmers are expected to finalize their grain-marketing decisions. In surveys, at meetings and in discussions, most farmers said they plan to contract all or part of their crop to CWB pools. The pools are an excellent risk-management tool for ensuring solid returns in a high-priced but volatile commodity market, White said.

10 August, 2012