Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters — The European Commission on Friday cut its estimate of this year’s drought-hit maize harvest in the European Union to a new 15-year low while again raising its projection for this season’s maize imports. European maize (corn) crops endured severe drought and several heatwaves during the crucial summer growth period. The Commission […] Read more
EU cuts estimate of drought-hit maize crop, raises import outlook
Commission cuts soft wheat exports, raises imports
Grain exporters tap EU supplies as war shuts Ukraine ports
Reading Time: 2 minutes Hamburg/Paris | Reuters — Grain exporters are looking for alternative sources of wheat and corn as a Russian invasion cuts off Ukrainian supplies, with European Union producers Romania and France being used to cover some nearby loadings, traders said Friday. The conflict has rattled grain markets, with European wheat futures surging to a record high […] Read more
China’s appetite for feed barley sucks in new crop from Canada, France
Tariff on Australian barley favours other suppliers
Reading Time: 3 minutes Paris | Reuters — China’s buying spree of French and Canadian barley is spilling into the 2021-22 crop with large forward purchases, due to its major feed grain needs and a prohibitive tariff on Australian barley, traders and analysts said. China has been sweeping up huge volumes of foreign crops to help feed a pig […] Read more
InVivo in talks to acquire French agribusiness Soufflet
Firms see limited overlap outside grain trading
Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters — Co-operative group InVivo has entered exclusive talks to acquire family-controlled Soufflet in a deal that would create one of Europe’s biggest agricultural businesses with 10 billion euros (C$15.5 billion) in sales, the French firms said on Wednesday. The potential consolidation comes as France, the European Union’s largest agricultural producer, is trying […] Read more
Barley trade routes redrawn as China tariff hits Australian farmers
China's barley purchases from Canada more than double last year's
Reading Time: 3 minutes Sydney/Paris | Reuters — Out in Australia’s grain fields, farmers have started harvesting one of their biggest-ever barley crops, after drought-relieving rains convinced many to plant to the edges of their paddocks. Yet the tractors are working under the cloud of a new tariff imposed by China — seen widely as retaliation for Australia’s push […] Read more
Louis Dreyfus to gain first outside investor
Abu Dhabi's ADQ fund to acquire indirect 45 per cent stake
Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters — Louis Dreyfus Co. (LDC) has agreed to sell a 45 per cent stake to Abu Dhabi’s ADQ, the companies said on Wednesday, the first outside investment in the family-owned commodity merchant’s 169-year-old history. The deal comes after a search by chairwoman Margarita Louis-Dreyfus for an investor to relieve debt built up […] Read more
Louis Dreyfus expects tough year on trade war, swine fever
Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters — Agricultural commodity giant Louis Dreyfus warned on Monday that international trade tensions and a swine disease epidemic would continue to weigh on its activities in the rest of the year after pushing down first-half profit. The interim results reversed a rebound in group profits in the second half of last year […] Read more
Shut out of China, Canada finds canola buyers in drought-damaged Europe
Reading Time: 3 minutes Winnipeg/Paris | Reuters — Crop-scorching drought in Europe is providing Canadian canola farmers a timely new opportunity to move supplies that have piled up since China stopped buying this year. Rising European sales are taking some of the sting out of losing the Chinese market for Canadian farmers, although ICE canola futures prices are down […] Read more
Louis Dreyfus top shareholder gets finance to buy out minorities
Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters – Margarita Louis-Dreyfus, top shareholder of commodity giant Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC), said she had secured financing for a deal that requires her to buy out family minorities, a move that has created uncertainty over the firm’s funding. Minority family shareholders asked in 2015 to sell 16.6 percent of LDC’s holding company […] Read more
Drought slashes EU wheat, export surplus to be cut
Reading Time: 2 minutes Hamburg | Reuters – Drought and a heatwave that scorched fields in northern Europe may cut the European Union’s wheat export surplus and the bloc will need to consume more of its own grains, experts said on Friday. French analysts Strategie Grains forecast a 10 percent smaller EU soft wheat harvest this year, with northern […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
