SOUTH Australian farmer-turned-fertiliser importer Leighton Huxtable plans to expand his independent business into Victoria.
Shipments will be destined for the Victorian centres of Geelong or Port Melbourne.
Mr Huxtable launched a new fertiliser business, Direct Farm Inputs, last month, offering prices for fertiliser delivered to Port Adelaide hundreds of dollars below the major players.
DFI's entry into the market sparked a price war with the big companies matching prices.
Mr Huxtable said the interest from Victorian and NSW farmers had been so strong DFI now planned to deliver direct to two ports, with "perhaps multiple shipments".
Originally DFI planned to bring one boatload of DAP, MAP and urea into Adelaide.
The price of $1030/tonne for DAP or MAP, with a rebate, or a flat price of $930/tonne, would also apply to the Victorian shipments, he said.
According to Mr Huxtable and accountant Des Caulfield, a bank had refused to allow DFI to set up an account for the business, allegedly because of that bank's exposure to the fertiliser industry.
Now, Mr Huxtable said DFI was in the process of making alternative arrangements with another institution.
He said he wanted DFI to become a very large farmer-owned and run co-op or buying group for the eastern states and perhaps Western Australia, by mid next year.
Mr Huxtable, who has also claimed to have received death threats over his new business, said he would tell "the whole story under parliamentary privilege" when the senate inquiry into the industry is reconvened later this month.
