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Africa
Ukraine war forcing grain traders to urgently adapt supplies

With grain shipments in the Black Sea becoming impossible, large and small suppliers of both millers and state agencies are having to adapt to meet their requirements. At the same time, prices are exploding, which may be a double-edged sword. [...]

Published on 04/03/2022 at 06:00 GMT Reading time 3 minutes

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Ethiopia
Russia beefs up its trade diplomacy in Addis Ababa

The Russian embassy in Addis Ababa is shortly due to welcome new trade representative Yaroslav Tarasyuk, who was appointed by decree by prime minister Mikhail Mishustin in mid-May.

Subscribers only Commodity traders, Diplomacy 05.06.2023

Senegal
Dakar flour production could grind to a halt over unpaid subsidies

Senegalese millers are threatening to stop flour production if the government does not pay them promised subsidies, which they say amount to €58m. They have already drastically reduced their supplies from grain traders.

Subscribers only Commodity traders 13.09.2022

Africa, Turkey
Turkish traders play key role in delivering Russian and Ukrainian wheat to Africa

Istanbul traders and food companies are increasingly serving as intermediaries between Russia and the agricultural trading giants, particularly to supply North and East Africa with grain, flour and sunflower oil.

Subscribers only Commodity traders 24.06.2022

Egypt
Egpyt tries to adapt to drop in Russian cereal supplies and Indian embargo

Egypt is having great difficulty importing large quantities of Russian wheat, which represented nearly 60% of its purchases prior to the war in Ukraine. Cairo is now trying to negotiate with New Delhi in the hope of ensuring a partial lifting of the embargo on Indian wheat.

Subscribers only Commodity traders, Business 20.06.2022

Workers collect wheat at the Banha grain silos, in Qalyubia Governorate, Egypt, 25 May 2022.

In Focus | Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE
Gulf nations fall back on trading giants for food security

Faced with a tense food situation and the lukewarm success of their agricultural projects in Africa, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar have fallen back on commodities traders such as Louis Dreyfus and Olam. They are also using the traders' Dubai-based teams to help Egypt and other friendly nations struggling.

Subscribers only Commodity traders 06.06.2022

Salic CEO Sulaiman al-Rumaih (left) and Olam group CEO Sunny George Verghese.

Africa
Swiss Singapore takes over Phoenix Global's rice business in West Africa

Registered in Singapore but run from Dubai, the trading group Swiss Singapore, which is well-connected in New Delhi, has successfully started exporting rice to Africa. It has made a name for itself in Dakar, Abidjan and Cotonou thanks to the recruitment of two former traders from Phoenix Global, which went bankrupt in August 2020.

Free access Commodity traders, Business 03.06.2022

Libya
Whiba Holding's milling companies affected by Ukraine war

The Whiba brothers' holding company previously brought in grain from Ukraine to support its wheat import and processing activities. It even had its own local subsidiary to facilitate these transactions.

Subscribers only Business 04.05.2022

North Africa
How Italy's Casillo became a key player in Tunisia's cereal market

The Casillo family group, the leading supplier of durum wheat to Italian pasta manufacturers, has for several years systematically responded to calls for tenders from the Tunisian cereals office. This has enabled it to bag a swathe of the country's supply contracts since the start of the Ukraine war.

Subscribers only Commodity traders, Business 22.04.2022

The port of Rades, the main entry point for cereals in Tunisia.

France, Gabon
Friction between Paris and Libreville at the UN over Russia

As a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council since January 2022, Gabon took the lead in voting against Russia's exclusion from the Human Rights Council. This sparked a request from Paris for further explanations from Libreville.

Subscribers only Diplomacy 18.04.2022

Michel Xavier Biang, Ambassador of Gabon to the United Nations.

Inner circles | Algeria
How OAIC cereals board provides daily bread to Algerians despite Ukraine war and scandals

Algeria's national cereals board, the OAIC, is the focus of major government spending and a key political tool for its bilateral relationship with France. The organisation is tasked with ensuring Algeria is supplied with wheat, despite the current high prices and the sometimes competing demands of millers, bakers and consumers.

Subscribers only Commodity traders, Business 15.04.2022

Spotlight | Kenya
Ukraine war forces Kenya to find new buyers for 1m kilos of tea meant for Russia

Kenya, faced with the threat of falling prices, had to find new outlets for huge quantities of black tea in record time. The stock, worth about $3.5m, was initially destined for Russia.

Subscribers only Commodity traders, Business 07.04.2022

A tea production site in Githunguri, Kenya.

Africa
French grain traders Soufflet, Lecureur and Céréalis race to fill gap in market left by Russian and Ukrainian wheat

The halt in Russian and Ukrainian wheat exports has opened a window of opportunity for French grain producers in North and West Africa, who in recent weeks have been able to act as substitute suppliers at short notice.

Subscribers only Commodity traders 04.04.2022

Libya
Last Russian and Ukrainian grain ships dock at Misrata

Libya depends heavily on Russian and Ukrainian grain imports, and recently saw its last shipments arrive in Misrata port. The country is urgently looking to source new suppliers.

Subscribers only Commodity traders, Business 14.03.2022

Spotlight | Africa
Ukrainian veterans seconded to Africa rush home

The Ukrainian army is recalling many of its reservists working overseas to fight Russian forces. Some of those deployed in Africa have already returned home. Meanwhile, the shelling of Ukraine's weapons factories is disrupting the spare parts supply chain most African countries rely on, especially with regard to helicopters.

Subscribers only Defence 11.03.2022

Spotlight | Africa
As sanctions bite, oil traders Glencore, Gunvor and others on deck with plan B

Until now, all firms selling petroleum products in West and Central Africa were partly supplied by Russia. But since the US slapped sanctions on Russian fuels, these companies are urgently having to review their supply schedules.

Subscribers only Commodity traders, Business 10.03.2022

An oil tanker belonging to Russian company Somkovflot.

Southern Africa
Russia sanctions accelerate Airbus and Boeing's hunt for African titanium

The world titanium market is in the midst of a major reorganisation following the Russian offensive in Ukraine. African producers of this mineral, which is highly prized by the defence and aerospace industries, are expecting a record year.

Subscribers only Defence, Mining, Commodity traders 04.03.2022

Cameroon
Ukraine-Russia: faced with soaring wheat prices, millers unilaterally raise flour prices

Célestin Tawamba, head of Cameroon's employers' federation and owner of La Pasta, is leading the Cameroonian flour mills' revolt against the government. After failing to obtain tax and customs exemptions, he and his competitors have decided to flout their sector's regulations.

Subscribers only Commodity traders, Business 01.03.2022

North Africa
Potential Ukrainian wheat supply blockage for Algiers and Cairo

The Moscow-Kyiv crisis is leading to a drastic reduction in the volume of grain shipped from Black Sea ports. Fearing a Russian offensive, shipping companies are now refusing to make new commitments to traders. This situation particularly affects Algiers, which has been relying on supplies from this region to compensate for its halt in French purchases, but it is also of consequence to Egypt.

Subscribers only Commodity traders, Business 16.02.2022

Barley grain is mechanically poured into a 40,000 ton ship at a Ukrainian agricultural exporter's shipment terminal in the Black Sea port of Mykolaïv, in Ukraine.

Algeria
Russian and Argentinian wheat imports soar as France is barred from market

Barely a year after Algeria's new rules on wheat imports were introduced to break the domination of French suppliers, the changes have already had the desired effect: French imports have dwindled to barely nothing while orders from Russia and Argentina have soared.

Subscribers only Business 06.01.2022

Spotlight | Algeria
Cofco and Al Ghurair go after the cereals market

Red alert among the world leading cereals trading groups! The Algerian Interprofessional Office for Cereals (OAIC) is to revise its list of accredited suppliers in the next few months. At stake is a $2 billion market dominated - for the [.

Subscribers only Business 15.02.2018