{"id":137,"date":"2017-11-16T13:18:13","date_gmt":"2017-11-16T13:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commodityconversations.com\/wordpress2\/?p=137"},"modified":"2018-10-31T09:51:17","modified_gmt":"2018-10-31T09:51:17","slug":"food-for-thought-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commodityconversations.com\/wordpress2\/2017\/11\/16\/food-for-thought-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Commodity Conversations Weekly Press Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Starting with company news from Asia,\u00a0<\/a>Olam International has reported a 17.5 percent rise in its third-quarter net profit to S$24.1 million for the three months ended September, compared with S$20.5 million a year ago.<\/p>\n

Revenue grew<\/a> 41.7 per cent to S$6.71 billion from the preceding year, as the company’s traded volume increased to 5.8 million tonnes from 3.8 million tonnes. Olam generated a free cash flow\u00a0 of S$1.11 billion in the first nine months of this year, versus a negative S$150.5 million in the same period last year.<\/p>\n

Olam also received the Singapore Apex Corporate Sustainability Award<\/a> in the multinationals category. Meanwhile, the company’s CEO has been appointed as the new chair<\/a> of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development for two years starting in 2018.<\/p>\n

Wilmar International reported<\/a> a net profit of $370 million for the three months ended Sept. 30, compared with $392.2 million for the same period a year ago. A stronger performance in its oilseeds and grains division was offset by lower results in the tropical oils and sugar businesses.<\/p>\n

Wilmar\u2019s chairman and chief executive has forecast<\/a> a \u201csatisfactory\u201d performance for the tropical oils and sugar divisions in the current quarter, with the oilseeds and grains business should see its \u201cgood performance\u201d continue.<\/p>\n

The company is looking to list<\/a> its China unit on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in the second half of 2019, eight years after the initial listing plan was first announced. Wilmar’s China operations contributes half of the group’s revenue and a significant portion of the profits.<\/p>\n

Noble Group has started talks<\/a> with stakeholders to restructure its debt and secure trade finances in a bid to keep its business running. Noble has almost $400 million of medium-term debt notes due March 2018 and $1.14 billion of senior unsecured revolving credit facilities and a term loan due May 2018, according to Fitch Ratings.<\/p>\n

But while some companies contract, others expand. COFCO International plans<\/a> to increase soybean sourcing in Brazil’s Mato Grosso state to 7.2 million tonnes from 4 million tonnes currently. Mato Grosso is home to 13 out of 19 elevators the Chinese trader operates in the country.<\/p>\n

The chief executive of Glencore Agriculture discussed merger possibilities in a presentation<\/a> to\u00a0the Global Grain conference in Geneva. He said, \u201cwe have looked at three or four possibilities in our core area already this year but couldn\u2019t reach agreement with the seller\u201d. He added that Glencore remained focused on acquisitions for growth, and saw scope for consolidation in the grain sector due to excess capacity. \u201cFinding value is the big challenge in the industry today,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In a presentation<\/a> to the Morgan Stanley Global Chemicals and Agriculture Conference in Boston the chief executive officer of Bunge said he believed the grains industry is caught up in a cyclical period. However he indicated that some pieces of the agricultural chain may be experiencing a permanent shift.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there is one place in the world where we do see that there\u2019s a shift and there is a structural amount of overcapacity that somehow has to be rationalized, it\u2019s in the U.S. grain origination and export industry,\u201d he said, adding U.S. grains \u201cneeds fixing.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is also over-capacity in Brazil’s sugarcane sector.\u00a0 Biosev SA, the sugar and ethanol unit controlled by Louis Dreyfus Co, is idling <\/a>its Maracaju mill in Mato Grosso do Sul state for an undetermined period of time. The cane processed at the mill will be transported to two other mills that Biosev operates in the region.<\/p>\n

Ra\u00edzen will also idle two mills<\/a> in the main Sao Paulo cane belt for an initial period of two years, saying there will not be enough cane in the area where the plants are located. Ra\u00edzen will transport the cane in the areas where the mills are located to other plants it operates in the country.<\/p>\n

In response to \u201c<\/span>evolving customer preferences for antibiotic-free meat, milk and egg products,<\/a>\u201d Cargill has broken ground on a new 50 million dollar feed facility in Ohio that will be focused on antibiotic-free protein production. The plant will sit alongside Cargill\u2019s existing facility on the site that will continue to produce medicated feed products. A spokesman said, \u201cWe understand our customers have different preferences and product requirements, and this new facility will help us deliver those choices.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Continuing on the theme of consumer trends, the percentage of people in the US who consumed a sugary beverage <\/a>on any given day has fallen to 60 percent for children and 50 percent for adults in 2014, down from 80 percent and 62 percent respectively in 2003. Consumption of fruit juices also dropped in the period, while water consumption was up for all age groups.<\/p>\n

And…well, it had to happen: a\u00a0headline<\/a> this week read: “Forget everything you know – sugar could be good for you after all”.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the New Food Economy has written a good piece<\/a> on nutrition, bad science, and even worse journalism. The writer takes particular exception to a recent claim that giving up genetically modified organisms improves your health.<\/p>\n

Lastly, Reuters has written a long read<\/a> explaining Monsanto\u2019s challenges with the weed killer dicamba.<\/p>\n

Notes:<\/p>\n

Chris Mahoney, CEO of Glencore Agriculture, will be speaking at the Commodity Conversations<\/em> event in London on 6th June 2018.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Kingsman’s new book, Commodity Conversations<\/em>, is now available on Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Starting with company news from Asia,\u00a0Olam International has reported a 17.5 percent rise in its third-quarter net profit to S$24.1 million for the three months ended September, compared with S$20.5 million a year ago. Revenue grew 41.7 per cent to S$6.71 billion from the preceding year, as the company’s traded volume increased to 5.8 million … <\/p>\n

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