A ship carrying Australia's first import of foreign-grown grain in more than a decade is expected to arrive in Port Kembla on Friday.
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The shipment of high-protein wheat from Canada will be used at the Manildra Group's Shoalhaven Starches facility in Nowra.
The federal government last month granted the Australian-owned company a bulk grain import permit so it could offset a supply shortfall caused by severe drought.
It is the first time in Manildra's 67-year history that it has been forced to import grain due to exceptional drought circumstances.
The company said it had sourced as much high protein wheat on the Australian market as was available, and was continuing to do so.
"Due to the worst drought in 116 years, high-protein wheat is in short-supply and is critical to the Shoalhaven Starches wheat-processing plant, which secures hundreds of regional jobs and the continuation of wheat processing at that plan," Manildra said in a statement.
"Shoalhaven Starches' preference is to use Australian wheat, and will continue to buy high protein wheat from Australian farmers, as supply permits."
The imported wheat would only be processed at Shoalhaven Starches, where it is transformed into value-added products, including gluten and starch.
The company's inland NSW mills at Manildra, Gunnedah and Narrandera would be solely supplied with Australian wheat, it said.
The single-shipment import permit has been issued and managed by the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (DAWR).
The department said import conditions required the grain to be sourced from "areas assessed as presenting a low plant and animal biosecurity risk", and there were also "strict movement, storage and processing controls".
The imported wheat would be discharged at Port Kembla and transported by rail - in sealed, specifically-made containers - to Nowra.
In an open letter to growers, penned after the permit approval, Manildra Group managing director John Honan said the company was "committed to a sustainable grains industry".
"We know our national reputation depends on our biosecurity import standards and we are committed to these strict industry safeguards set by DAWR," he said.
Mr Honan said east coast grain growers, from whom Manildra traditionally sourced its high-protein wheat, had "a very poor harvest in 2017 and 2018", resulting in a shortfall.
According to the Port Authority of NSW, the cargo ship carrying the wheat, the African Pheasant, was due to arrive at Port Kembla's Berth 103 about 7am.