CWB officials say they are pleased with what they have accomplished in the first two years of market deregulation.
But CWB’s chief strategy officer Dayna Spiring says the company still has a few important tasks to accomplish as it moves toward privatization.
“We’re very pleased with where we’re at right now,” Spiring said.
“In two years, we’ve gone from a monopoly environment to one where we’re in the open market, we’re profitable, we’ve secured east coast port facilities, we have two acquisitions of independently owned elevators — Prairie West Terminal and Great Sandhills Terminal — and we’ve started construction … on two new facilities.”
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Last week, CWB announced it is constructing a third elevator near Moose Jaw, Sask.
One of the key pillars of CWB’s open market strategy is to acquire a network of country elevators.
CWB is well on its way to establishing that network and will continue to assess additional opportunities as they arise, Spiring said.
The acquisition of Mission Terminal at Thunder Bay also gives CWB critically important port capacity that will facilitate east-bound shipments of prairie grain.
Next on the wish list is guaranteed port access on the West Coast.
“We’re going to continue to look at (the country elevator network) … and expand that network as we see it appropriate to do so,” Spiring said.
“But we also need to find a solution for the West Coast.
“We have contractual access in place right now, but long term, we probably need some type of ownership stake or some sort of more guaranteed access on the West Coast, so we’ll be looking at that as opportunities become available.”
