Grain traders have paid record premiums for shipping slots in Western Australia's southern ports.
The first capacity auction for the 2014-15 harvest by Cooperative Bulk Handling (CBH) wrapped up late yesterday, with just over 14 million tonnes of capacity offered.
The total capacity rewarded is believed to be 13.062 million tonnes, but it is yet to be finalised by the Auction Review Committee (ARC).
The average premium for a slot at one of CBH's four terminals was $27.99 a tonne, with the highest slot premium at $40.50, both records.
In past auctions, the previous highest average was $26.16 and the highest individual premium is $38.
Once approved by the ARC, $365 million in premium funds will be held in an auction pool on behalf of marketers which is rebated based on tonnes shipped at the end of the shipping year.
CBH recently scrapped plans to offer long term port access agreements (LTA).
With this season's port capacity now allocated, CBH says it can focus on restructuring the LTA proposal once again to present to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
"This is not our ideal situation, as we still believe that the LTA system is in the best interests of WA growers," said CBH operations manager David Capper.
"Given the situation, we are taking more time to consider how that will work into the future."