Western Australia's grain harvest has hit a record level after the latest deliveries pushed this crop year's total to 14.7 million metric tons, Cooperative Bulk Handling Ltd. said Wednesday.

The harvest eclipsed the previous record of 14.69 million tons set in the year ended March 31, 2004, with more grain still to come in, the Perth-based company said in a statement.

It also exceeded the pre-harvest state forecast of 13.5 million tons, the company said.

CBH, which dominates the storage and handling of Western Australian grains--including wheat, barley and canola--faces a challenge in coming months to move the crops to port, Colin Tutt, general manager of operations, said.

"It is timely that the state and federal governments took the decision last year to invest A$350 million in the grain transport network," he said.

The harvest is expected to continue in some areas until the final week of January, with around another 200,000 tons expected to be delivered, Tutt said.

Typically, 70% of the Western Australian harvest is wheat and deliveries to CBH account for 90% of total state production, nearly all of which is exported.

-By Stephen Bell, contributing to Dow Jones Newswires; 61-8-9244-4243; sgbell@bigpond.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 18, 2012 04:25 ET (09:25 GMT)