Port authority keen to secure new grain store (From Western Telegraph)

Port authority keen to secure new grain store

A new £1.3 million centralised grain store at Pembroke Port will strengthen commercial links between the Milford Haven Port Authority and the agricultural industry in South West Wales.

The authority is keen to secure this new tenant for the Port, said its general manager, Ted Sangster.

His comments follow a meeting with the Welsh Rural Development Minister, Mike German, and around 50 farmers at the Port Authoritys stand at the recent Pembrokeshire County Show.

The chairman of the projects working group, Meurig Raymond, gave a comprehensive outline of the proposal and updated farmers on its progress.

He believed the outlook was positive. The Minister showed great interest in the project, demonstrating his support by speaking to a group of interested farmers at the Port Authority stand, said Mr Raymond, who is also a member of the Home Grown Cereals Authority.

We now await the business plan which is being drawn up by Steven Mackintosh of Auborn Farming Ltd and he (Mr German) has asked to be kept informed as and when the plan is completed.

Bill Bird and Andrew Head of BK Grain Handling Engineers have been retained to design and cost the project. The facility would be capable of drying, processing and storing up to 60,000 tonnes of grain in the dockside hangar.

A centralised store is widely regarded as an exciting opportunity in a county where smaller producers without access to drying facilities sell direct from the field to an oversupplied market.

The storage facility could mean an extra £5 a tonne on the net price of feed grains and up to £10 a tonne on quality grains at a time when prices have fallen as low as £50 a tonne.