VITERRA Australia has contributed the lion's share of the Canadian company's first quarter earnings in 2009-10.
Of the parent company's earnings of $C89.8 million ($A94.2 million) recorded for the three months to January 31, Viterra Australia accounted for $C66.6 million ($A69.9 million).
Viterra president and chief executive officer Mayo Schmidt said he was "very pleased" with the company's takeover of ABB Grain Ltd, now known as Viterra Australia.
Mr Schmidt said the Australian operations had accounted for more than 60 per cent of Viterra's first quarter results, thanks largely to the second largest South Australian harvest on record.
Receivals into the South Australian network were 6.2 million tonnes of an estimated 7.8 million tonne crop.
But Mr Schmidt said grower selling of grain to marketers "has been light".
According to the company's first quarter financial report, growers were reluctant to sell their grain during the harvest period due to low commodity prices.
"Management believes this is a timing issue and that the majority of South Australia's margin contributions from storage, shipping and merchandising activities will materialise during the balance of the year," the report said.
The company said: "Australian grain prices remained higher than world grain prices, causing marketers to temporarily turn to other growing regions for their sourcing requirements".
It noted that only 600,000 tonnes of grain had been shipped through Viterra's South Australian port terminals from October through to January.
