AWB CALLS FOR TIGHTER WHEAT QUALITY CONTROLS Australia is risking wheat export sales by not providing enough specific quality grades to meet buyer requirements, the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) said. "Many AWB customers are becoming increasingly quality conscious, demanding strict adherence to contractual quality specifications," the board said in a submission to the Royal Commission into Grain Storage, Handling and Transport. "Many of the specifications are more specific than the current categories used in Australia," it said. The commission is trying to identify ways of saving costs and boosting efficiency of the grain handling system. Australia must rely on quality to retain its wheat market share because its competitors are supplying cheaper but lower-quality grades, the AWB submission said. It stressed the need to segregate wheat categories at every stage from receival to shipping. Better industrial relations at grain terminals, more uniform transport systems across the states and extensive stock control were vital to improved marketing, it said. The submission also said Australia's federal system impeded the AWB's role of coordinating and managing the marketing of wheat. The AWB called for an end to physical and legislative constraints at state borders that prevent the efficient transport of grains to other states for shipment. "It is essential that wheat moves by the most economic mode to the nearest efficient port, irrespective of the state in which the wheat is grown or stored," it said. For example, wheat grown in northern New South Wales (NSW) might move more efficiently to Brisbane, in Queensland, than to Sydney or Newcastle in New South Wales, it said. Similarly, southern NSW wheat might better be shipped to Portland or Geelong, in Victoria. Legislation giving state rail authorities a monopoly over grain shipments was one notable impediment, it said. The AWB said the current approach of state-based bulk handling authorities is not essential, although it said it favoured the authorities maintaining at least their current level of control of storage and transport as long as quality was maintained. An appendix on port loading costs showed it cost between 26,500 and 34,700 U.S. Dlrs to load a 50,000-tonne vessel at various Australian ports compared with 21,200 dlrs at Houston and 16,300 at Port Cartier, Quebec, for a 60,000-tonner.