Mr Jones said the company had forged strong links with international companies, both with its work as an exporter of barley and more recently exporting containerised wheat and that the deregulation of the wheat market came at the perfect time for the business.

"We've been involved in wheat pools for over 10 years now, and for us, the transition from a domestic marketer to an international marketer is seamless," Mr Jones said.

"Our customers in the containerised wheat market have been very happy so far and we expected this will translate into bulk wheat exports."

ABB's focus will be on Asia, Mr Jones said, but they would look further afield if there was a big Australian harvest.

"Obviously, the freight advantage makes Asia the obvious target, and we are well positioned there, but if the Australian crop is bigger and the freight rates are favourable we could go into other areas."

The burning issue of conflict of interest with supply chain operators also becoming exporters will be a non-event, according to Mr Jones.

AWB has raised queries about companies such as ABB and GrainCorp not being more closely monitored given their stake in the marketing arena.

But Mr Jones said ABB favoured competition.

"We don't have any intention of buying all the grain in South Australia and we encourage our customers to use our facilities," he said.

"We're not taking over the world and we are going to maintain open access to our facilities for other marketers."

The company's supply chain and existing marketing streams, such as barley exports, will be utilised to create savings, such as potentially exporting combined loads of wheat and barley on ships with separate storage.

* Extract from a full report in Stock & Land, Vic, July 17 issue.