VORACIOUS appetite for Australian grain and last year's big harvest have seen online grain clearing house Clear Grain Exchange smash its trading record.
CGX managing director Nathan Cattle said the business had traded in excess of 2 million tonnes for the 2020-21 season.
Mr Cattle said growers were becoming increasingly comfortable marketing grain on platforms such as CGX rather than selling directly to a specific buyer and that in many cases they have been able to achieve prices above the highest official daily bids.
"CGX is a pure exchange, we're not a buyer, seller or advisor of grain," Mr Cattle said.
"That's why it works so effectively because there are no inherent conflicts or compromises made," he said.
"We just focus on operating best practice to ensure all buyers, sellers and agents can participate and achieve the real price for grain."
He said CGX was becoming an important tool for both buyers and sellers.
"There is value in more efficient markets for all parties.
"Growers and their agents benefit from every buyer being able to try and buy their grain, buyers benefit from more easily finding grain for sale, and supply chains benefit because grain transacting is often in a better location for execution than it may be if buyers restricted themselves to accumulating from a segment of the market only," he said.
"Farmers are getting better value for their grain then they may otherwise if they were negotiating with a handful of buyers, and buyers are able to pass on the benefits they receive from more efficient accumulation via improved prices."
Mr Cattle said numbers using the exchange were up.
"The number of growers using the exchange this season has grown to just shy of 3,000 with many more than that registered and getting familiar with the system, 33 different agent businesses have utilised the exchange to sell grain on their grower's behalf, and more than 200 buyers are registered," he said.
Mr Cattle said alongside with the ability to interact with more buyers and sellers, CGX is also attracting users because of its counterparty risk protection.
"This area of our business has been growing significantly," he said.
"Parties to a grain transaction are seeing benefits in utilising our settlement services to improve security of the transaction, but also make use of the digitised back-office functions such as paying levies, end point royalties and ensuring best practice in managing bank account details."
CGX operate a secure settlement process that ensures growers retain title of grain until they're paid, with payment occurring within seven business days.
Mr Cattle said the average time for settlement this season has been four and a half days.
Gregor Heard
Gregor Heard is ACM's national grains industry reporter, based in Horsham, Victoria. He has a wealth of knowledge surrounding the cropping sector through his 15 years in the role. Prior to that he was with the Fairfax network as a reporter with Stock & Land. Some of the major issues he has reported on during his time with the company include the deregulation of the export wheat market, the introduction of genetically modified crops and the fight to protect growers better from grain trader insolvencies. Still involved with the family farm he is passionate about rural Australia and its people and hopes to use his role to act as an advocate for those involved in the grain sector.
Gregor Heard is ACM's national grains industry reporter, based in Horsham, Victoria. He has a wealth of knowledge surrounding the cropping sector through his 15 years in the role. Prior to that he was with the Fairfax network as a reporter with Stock & Land. Some of the major issues he has reported on during his time with the company include the deregulation of the export wheat market, the introduction of genetically modified crops and the fight to protect growers better from grain trader insolvencies. Still involved with the family farm he is passionate about rural Australia and its people and hopes to use his role to act as an advocate for those involved in the grain sector.
