Drought makes full ABB network uneconomical

<p>ABB Grain will close almost a third of its South Australian receival sites after a poor yield this year.</p> <p>The grains handler said 33 of its 111 sites would not open this year because it was uneconomical to do so in a year when Australia’s total grain production is set to plummet.</p> <p>ABB operations manager Peter Weaver said a lot of ABB’s capacity, including 10m tonnes of storage, would not be needed this year.</p> <p>&#8220Site closures are a direct result of the pending poor season and reducing the storage and handling operation this harvest will ensure our larger sites operate more efficiently and effectively,&#8221 Mr Weaver said.</p> <p>The South Australian Farmers Federation (SAFF) said the move would severely disadvantage farmers who rely on small silos.</p> <p>SAFF Grains Council spokesperson Brett Roberts said that some farmers could not afford to transport their grain to a more distant silo.</p> <p>&#8220I think it will affect the farmers with smaller trucks that are used to going to their local silos that are now going to be closed and probably affect those farmers that can’t get the carriers when they want,&#8221 he said.</p> <br />