A review of the latest milling construction projects - Nxtbook ...

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The International Business Magazine for Grain, Flour and Feed September 2013

A review of the latest milling construction projects

MillingIssue

Bunge: Pursuing a global footprint

Focus on Libya

Richardson enjoys milestone year

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©Copyright 2013. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.

All information is published in good faith. While care is taken to prevent inaccuracies, the publishers accept no liability for any errors or omissions or for the consequences of any action taken on the basis of information published.

www.World-Grain.com contents

www.World-Grain.com / World Grain / September 2013 5

FEATURES30 Executive interview: Pursuing a global footprint

Bunge has made expanding its business internationally a top priority.

38 A big step forward for GambiaSmall African country’s � rst commercial � our mill represents a signi� cant opportunity.

44 Grain and milling managementChelsea Milling in major move into institutional, food service markets.

48 Construction activity strong in milling industryAnnual survey of equipment manufacturers indicates their products are especially in demand in emerging markets and developing nations.

58 Milling operationsSteps can be taken after the milling process to ensure a safe, reliable and consistent product.

66 Latest milling technologyNew products unveiled during IAOM Conference’s Product Showcase.

70 Feed operationsFeed mills use continuous proportioning/mixing systems to formulate and mix their entire variety of products.

76 Central Asian breadbasketCentral Asian nations have a combined annual wheat output ranging from 30 to 35 million tonnes.

84 Milestone year for Richardson InternationalCompany is celebrating the 100th anniversary of Richardson Pioneer and the largest acquisition in its history.

94 Australia seeks bigger role in AsiaNew Emerald Grain CEO says country must seize opportunity to become primary food supplier during annual AGIC event in Melbourne.

98 Grain operationsBest practices management helps eliminate safety, health concerns associated with excessive dust at grain elevators.

04 Starting new traditionsU.S. researchers try growing quinoa while sorghum � nds food use in gluten-free applications.

10 Dryness expands around the worldNorth America, particularly the heart of the U.S. Corn and Soybean Belt, is an area of concern.

DEPARTMENTS 08 Editorial 10 Calendar 12 World Grain News 24 Grain Market

Review: Oilseeds26 Country Focus: Libya

114 Supplier News 120 Products & Services 121 Archive 122 Advertiser Index/

Fax Back Form

ON THE COVER: Kaz-Grain LLC recently updated its � our mill located in Tokmok, Kyrgyzstan. Photo courtesy of Alapala.

30

84

VOLUME 31 NUMBER 9 SEPTEMBER 2013

1

1

Innovations for a better world.

Consistent and efficient bagging.Unique operational reliability for bagging process.

The Bühler Maia bagging unit is designed for bags with a capacity of 20 to 65 liters, providing high operational reliability for bagging pow-dered, free-flowing and friable products fully automated.

The new Maia bagging unit combines a high bagging rate per hour with consistent filling accuracy, low energy consumption, various setup options and state-of-the-art sanitation. The initial response from customers is affirmative: the Maia bagging unit allows clean bagging with high operational reliability, which increases not only efficiency but also reduces opera-tional costs. Its easy operation and functional design is yet another feature of the bagging unit.

Process steps alignment guarantees high efficiencyBefore filling, the bag attacher corrects the position of the bags automatically. For powdered products the Maia bagging unit uses a patented feed screw to compress the product even better and to reduce the risk of tearing bags to a minimum. Aligned process steps combined with energy-efficient servo motors increase the profitability of the bagging unit overall.

Modular assembling allows for a flexible footprintThe Maia bagging unit is perfect for bagging pow-dered, free-flowing as well as friable products. The machine is designed for bags with a capacity of 20 to 65 liters, made from a wide range of packaging materials including paper, plastic film and woven polypropylene.

The author of this article is:

Thomas ZiolkoProduct Management Grain Milling at Bühler AG, Uzwil, Switzerland;E-mail: [email protected]

Consistent and efficient bagging. The Bühler Maia bagging unit stands for a

fully automated bagging process for powdered, free-flowing and friable

products. Aligned process steps result in a constant filling accuracy and a

high bagging capacity. Not only top sanitation but also a unique design

complete this new bagging unit. The outcome is compelling: an unparalleled

operational reliability for clean bagging, designed for bags with a capacity of

20 to 65 liters. Maia – consistency and efficiency at the highest level.

www.buhlergroup.com

Bühler AG, Grain Milling, 9240 Uzwil, Switzerland, T +41 71 955 11 11, F +41 71 955 66 11

[email protected], www.buhlergroup.com

The new Maia bagging unit is available as a single spout version with capacity of 7.5 bags per minute for powdered products and up to 10 bags per minute for free-flowing products.

For higher bagging capacities the Maia bagging unit is also available as a 2-spout bagging unit, ensuring an output of 15 bags per minute for powdered pro-ducts and up to 20 bags per minute for free-flowing products. In addition, four setup options for bag feeding and closing allow a flexible footprint.

Functional design meets highest sanitationA dustproof bag spout with a built-in aspiration provides clean bagging. In addition, top sanitation is also assured by the bagging unit‘s closed housing and easy access for service and maintenance. And the unique design is an eye-catcher in every plant, emphasizing the perfection of the Maia bagging unit.

Maia bagging unit.

Consistent and

efficient bagging.

Flexible in use

For powdered, free-flowing and friable

products.

Top sanitation

A dustproof bag spout with a built-in

aspiration provides clean bagging.

Unique operational reliability

Ensures high efficiency and low

operating costs.

8 September 2013 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com

from the editor-in-chief

If there’s any issue facing the global wheat industry that poses a seemingly insoluble dilemma, it is how wheat production is

going to increase to meet expanding global demand. Of all the ways of assessing needs, hardly any says it more strikingly than the as-sertion that between now and the middle of the 21st century, the world will have to raise a quantity equal to the total produced in all of the preceding 10,000 years that wheat has been an essential food. In less dramatic terms, the need is for increasing yields which have been on a barely improving course for the past decade or longer. With the area devoted to wheat decreasing in major producing coun-tries, the urgency is for another Green Revo-lution of the 1950s and 1960s that prevented global famine in the wake of World War II.

Unlike that earlier period when scientists like Norman Borlaug were able to focus on boosting yields, current research must aim for yield gains while also dealing with sus-tainability issues, global warming and mind-less unscientific attacks on genetic modifica-tion or engineering that most respected re-searchers believe offer the greatest promise of achieving the ultimate goal of increasing yields. Countries comprising nearly entire continents have rejected grains whose yields have been modified by genetic engineering for reasons that make absolutely no sense based on their success in the United States where such crops are grown without effect

on the health of millions. The strong objec-tions to GMO, even when acknowledged as ridiculous, seem to have won the day even as concerns mount about food security.

While research on GMO wheat continues under strict limits aimed at avoiding the sort of uproar that greeted the highly suspicious finding of a few such plants in a single Or-egon field, word has come from England of progress toward significant yield gains by old-fashioned breeding. As embarrassing as it may be to see Cambridge-based scientists separate their work from what is the advanced techniques of genetic modification, it is praiseworthy that the U.K. National Institute of Agricultural Botany has revealed that new research has produced wheat that in early tests increased yield by as much as 30%. Dubbed “Super Wheat” by the British media, the ex-perimental plants have their origin in work done by CIMMYT, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico that was founded with the Green Revolution of more than a half a century ago.

According to the English Institute, which not so incidentally proudly claims Queen Elizabeth II as patron, it is a “Synthetic Hexaploid Wheat breeding program that it uses to recapture variations from the early grasses where wheat originated and which were lost through thousands of years of domestication. It is these variations, when blended with durum wheat being commer-

cially raised in Britain, which are credited with boosting yields. The durum was crossed with wild goat-grass “using traditional cross-ing techniques” (a swipe at GMO) combined with tissue culture in the research laboratory to guarantee seed germination. “The result-ing hybrid plants,” the Institute said, “pro-duce the ‘synthetic’ seed, which is then used in crossing programs with current varieties.”

This is the way Dr. Phil Howell, senior plant breeder, says the program works: “Based on early-stage trials, we’re confi-dent that the performance gains and level of potentially valuable variation observed, through the novel step of re-synthesizing the original wheat plant, points to a major trans-formation in the wheat improvement pro-cess.” As positive as he is about the advan-tages of what the Institute has discovered, he says that careful research means the new wheat will not be available for commercial production until 2019 “at the earliest.”

That long a wait has prompted pleas for speedier action. Considering the multiple frustrations that mark the off-and-on ef-forts to find acceptable genetically-modified wheat, it now appears that something named SHW for Synthetic Hexaploid Wheat may win the day and provide the world with the food it needs.

Morton I. SoslandEditor-in-chief

WORLD GRAIN (ISSN 0745-8991) Volume 31, issue 9, is published monthly by Sosland Publishing Co., 4800 Main Street, Suite 100, Kansas City, MO 64112 U.S. Periodicals postage paid at Kansas City, MO 64108 U.S. and additional mailing offices. Canada Post International Publications Mail (Canada Distribution) Sales Agreement Number 40612608. Send returns (Canada) to Pitney Bowes International, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON, N6C 6B2. Printed in the USA.POSTMASTER: Send address changes to WORLD GRAIN, PO Box 324, Congers, NY 10920-0324. © Sosland Publishing Co. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited. WORLD GRAIN assumes no responsibility for the validity of claims in items reported. Sosland Publishing Co. is a division of Sosland Companies. Inc.

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Synthetic hexaploid Wheat may win

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calendar of events


OctOberOct. 7-11

IAOM Fundamentals of Milling IILocation: Ocrim’s International School of Milling Technology, Cremona, Italy Contact: International Association of Operative Millers Tel: 1.913.338.3377 Fax: 1.913.338.3553 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.iaom.info

Oct. 8-10IAOM Southeast Asia District Conference & ExpoLocation: InterContinental Hotel, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Contact: International Association of Operative Millers Tel: 1.913.338.3377 Fax: 1.913.338.3553 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.iaom.info

Oct. 15-18VIII International Grain Trading Conference — Global and Middle East Grain Outlook 2013 Location: Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt Contact: Anna Gerasimova, deputy director, business events department, Russian Grain Union Tel/Fax: 7(495) 607-82-85/124 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.grun.ru/en

Oct. 21-23Oilseed & Grain Trade SummitLocation: Hyatt Regency, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. Tel: 1.402.592.6464 Internet: www.oilseedandgraintrade.com

Oct. 14-16IAOM Mill Maintenance I CourseLocation: Wichita, Kansas, U.S. Contact: International Association of Operative Millers Tel: 1.913.338.3377 Fax: 1.913.338.3553 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.iaom.info

NOvemberNov.4-Dec. 6

GEAPS 544: Preventing Grain Dust Explosions GEAPS 555: Grain Elevator Equip. Maintenance IIGEAPS 580: Hiring and Retaining Good EmployeesLocation: Distance learning courses Contact: Grain Elevator and Processing Society Tel: 1.952.928.4640 Fax: 1.952.929.1318 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.geaps.com

Nov. 5-8IAOM Mideast & Africa District Conference and ExpoLocation: Movenpick, Sousse, Tunisia Contact: Eva Mulyana, conference manager, IAOM MEA District Tel: 968 2471 2338 Fax: 968 2471 1340 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.iaom-mea.com

Nov. 11-15Buhler-KSU Executive Milling Course Location: Manhattan, Kansas, U.S. Contact: International Association of Operative Millers Tel: 1.913.338.3377 Fax: 1.913.338.3553 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.iaom.info

Nov. 12-14Global Grain GenevaLocation: InterContinental, Geneva, Switzerland Tel: 44 (0) 20 7779 8883 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.globalgrainevents.com

Nov. 16-17IAOM Latin America Technical ConferenceLocation: Lima, Peru Contact: International Association of Operative Millers Tel: 1.913.338.3377 Fax: 1.913.338.3553 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.iaom.info

Nov. 17-20XXXI Annual Meeting of the Latin American Millers Association (ALIM)Location: Lima, Peru Contact: Mrs. Fabiola Barrios Tel: [51-1] 442 4351 | 442 2460 | 616 4444 extensions 131, 132 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.alim2013.com

Nov. 18-22 Bühler Expert Course for Millers to Improve the Quality of Baked Goods (in German)Location: Uzwil, Switzerland Contact: Bühler AG, Bakery Innovation Center Tel: 41.71.955.37.38 Fax: 41.71.955.42.05 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.buhlergroup.com/bic

Nov. 19-215th Annual World Rice ConferenceLocation: Langham Palace, Hong Kong, China Contact: V. Subramanian (Subra) Tel: 65 976-03225E-mail: [email protected] Internet: http://trtworldrice.com/

DecemberDec. 5-6

GAFTA Short Course: Superintendents Location: Hamburg, Germany Contact: Grain and Feed Trade Association Tel: 44 207 814 9666 Fax: 44 207 814 8383 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.gafta.com

IAOM MEA District Conference

The 24th annual International Association of Operative Millers (IAOM) Mideast & Africa District Conference & Expo is set for Nov. 5-8 in Sousse, Tunisia. The conference and expo will be at the Movenpick Resort & Marine Spa Sousse.

The conference schedule is divided into management, technical and trading sessions, all conducted by world-renowned industry experts and professionals. Each session fea-tures keynote speakers, including Mike Walsh, chief executive officer of the innovation research lab, Tomorrow; and Paul Roberts, American journalist and best-selling author of “The End of Food,” and “The End of Oil.”

Other topics to be discussed include entrepreneurship in a green economy; social media; market outlooks for the U.S., Canada, France, the Black Sea, and central Europe; and port access and shipping of Australian grain.

For a 12-month listing of 2013 industry events, see the 2013 International Buyers’ Guide or visit www.World-Grain.com. Send your event

details to: [email protected] or fax 1.816.756.0494.

We want to hear from you — Send comments and inquiries to [email protected]. For reprints of

WG articles, e-mail [email protected].


IFC, Olam finance expansion of Nigerian flour mill

News reviewBrought to you by World-Grain.com

newsreview

SINGAPORE — IFC and Olam International announced on Aug. 28 that they have signed a five-year $120 million loan agreement to finance upgrades and expansion of five food processing facilities in Nigeria and India.

The projects will benefit local communities by generating rural employment and creating new market opportunities for smallholder farmers to sell their crops.

IFC financing will support the following facilities operated by Olam:• Crown Flour Mill, Lagos, Nigeria (expansion)• Hemarus sugar milling, Kolhapur, India (upgrade)• Spice processing, Cochin, India (upgrade)• Mechanical cashew processing, Illorin, Nigeria (new)• Sesame hulling, Lagos, Nigeria (new)The Crown Flour Mill in Nigeria will process imported wheat into

flour for domestic bakers. The remaining four facilities will integrate by 2015 more than 45,000 small-scale farmers from surrounding regions into Olam’s supply chains by allowing them to supply their crops directly to the processing units, thereby guaranteeing a market for their products.

“Our partnership with IFC reiterates Olam’s continued focus of enabling economic prosperity and social and environmental sustain-ability throughout Olam’s operations,” said A. Shekhar, Olam’s ex-ecutive director for finance and business development. “IFC’s rigor-ous environmental and social review has been focused on the five processing facilities to ensure they meet IFC’s stringent loan criteria. However, IFC has also reviewed a range of Olam’s policies, proce-dures and management initiatives that apply throughout our supply chain and we will continue to build on these best practices in line with The Olam Sustainability Standard.”

Kyrgyzstan launches wheat flour investigation

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND — Kyrgyzstan recently notified the World Trade Organization (WTO) that on July 2 it initiated a safe-guard investigation into the importation of wheat flour.

In documents filed with the WTO, the nation said it launched the investigation following a preliminary analysis showing an increase in flour imports in 2011 and 2012 that financially impacted domestic producers of wheat flour.

Specifically, Kyrgyzstan said that in 2011 the volume of wheat flour increased 5.3 times compared to 2010 and in 2012 it increased 4.35 times. It said the workload of production capacities for domes-tic flour production decreased and the volume of flour production dropped by 8.2% from 2010 to 2011.

In 2010, 5% of all flour consumed in Kyrgyzstan was imported. By 2012, that percentage had increased to 24.85%, and in the first quarter of this year the percentage has already reached 33%.

“However, the volume of flour imports indicate the real potential for further significant growth and their level will have a suppressive effect on prices of domestic producers,” the nation said in the WTO documents.

On the basis of this information, the Kyrgyzstan Ministry of Econ-omy decided to initiate a safeguard investigation.

A safeguard investigation seeks to determine whether increased imports of a product are causing, or is threatening to cause, serious injury to Kyrgyzstan’s domestic milling industry.

During a safeguard investigation, importers, exporters and other interested parties may present evidence and views and respond to the presentations of other parties.

A WTO member may take a safeguard action (i.e. restrict imports of a product temporarily) only if the increased imports of the product are found to be causing, or threatening to cause, serious injury.

For more information on this region, see page 78.

CHS, Dakota Plains considering merger

ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, U.S. — CHS Inc., an energy, grains and foods company, and Dakota Plains Cooperative, a full-service agribusiness headquartered in Valley City, North Dakota, U.S., an-nounced on Aug. 26 that they are considering merging and have sought approval from the members of Dakota Plains Cooperative and the CHS board of directors.

The companies said they believe a merger may enhance agrono-my assets in the east central area of North Dakota, and plans under discussion include constructing three new fertilizer plants within the Dakota Plains trade area to take advantage of the proposed fer-tilizer manufacturing facility in Spiritwood, North Dakota, U.S., currently under review by CHS.

John McEnroe, executive vice-president of CHS Country Op-erations, added that both organizations are looking for growth and expansion opportunities while at the same time protecting mem-ber equity.

“We are always interested in investments that align with the

CHS commitment to helping our farmer-owners grow their busi-nesses,” McEnroe said.

Dakota Plains Cooperative offers farmers and ranchers a full line of agronomy, seed, feed and energy services and products from 15 loca-tions in central and southeast North Dakota.

CHS Inc. supplies energy, crop nutrients, grain marketing servic-es, livestock feed, food and food ingredients, along with business so-lutions including insurance, financial and risk management services. CHS earlier this year reached agreement with ConAgra Foods, Inc. and Cargill on a transaction that would be the largest merger in flour milling history, combining the groups’ North American flour mill-ing businesses to form a new company to be named Ardent Mills. The combined company will operate 44 flour mills, three bakery mix facilities and a specialty bakery, in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Total daily wheat and durum flour capacity for the com-bined company will be 576,100 cwts. The transaction is still pending regulatory approval.

14 September 2013 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com For more information, see Page 122.

Brazil emerges as major market for U.S. wheat

WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S. — Brazil has emerged as the second-largest market (after China) for U.S. wheat thus far in the 2013-14 marketing year that began June 1. The U.S. Department of Agricul-ture (USDA) indicated through Aug. 22, exports and undelivered sales of U.S. wheat to Brazil totaled 1,782,500 tonnes, compared with 50,000 tonnes by the same date a year earlier.

Brazil long has been one of the world’s largest wheat import-ers but has been able to purchase most of its import requirements from neighboring Argentina. Brazil imported 7.4 million tonnes of wheat in 2012-13 and was forecast to import 7.5 million tonnes in 2013-14.

In most years, U.S. wheat exports to Brazil have been miniscule. But Brazil turned to the United States for supply this year because of export restrictions imposed by the Argentine government in re-sponse to rising domestic wheat prices in the wake of a drop in wheat production in 2012-13. The 2012-13 Argentine crop was 10 million tonnes, which was the nation’s smallest wheat outturn since 1995-96. The forecast for Argentina’s 2013-14 wheat production was 12 mil-lion tonnes. The recent five-year average Argentina wheat outturn was 13.1 million tonnes.

Argentina’s wheat exports in 2012-13 totaled 4 million tonnes, down from 12.9 million tonnes in the previous year. The forecast for Argentina’s 2013-14 wheat exports was 6 million tonnes.

The USDA commented in its August Wheat Outlook, “In a popu-

list attempt to keep bread prices low, the (Argentine) government has brought wheat exports to a standstill, and threatened wheat stockholders to revive an obsolete 1974 anti-hoarding law (which involves the confiscation of existing wheat stocks and imprison-ment), as well as ordering exporters to sell wheat marked for export to local markets.”

The USDA further observed with regard to the outlook for 2013-14, “Government interventions in wheat exports have been detri-mental to wheat producers’ planting intentions.” The USDA noted the export restrictions that began in June happened “right in the middle of the wheat-planting window in Argentina, where plant-ing begins in the northern parts of the country at the beginning of May and moves toward the south, ending in August in the largest wheat-producing Buenos Aires region. Despite good planting con-ditions in the south, uncertainty about government interventions and export policy caused a drop in the projected area partly in favor of barley.”

The International Grains Council in its most recent Grain Market Review said, “With limited availabilities from Argen-tina, Brazil has turned to other origins to meet its needs, aided by the suspension of the 10% duty on non-Mercusor imports un-til Aug. 31. Brazil’s demand for U.S. wheat has been particularly strong and has contributed to stronger early-season U.S. sales than expected.”

newsreview

www.World-Grain.com / World Grain / September 2013 15For more information, see Page 122.


Mennel Milling elects Ford Mennel president

FOSTORIA, OHIO, U.S. — The Mennel Milling Company an-nounced on Aug. 28 the election of D. Ford Mennel to the position of president at its annual meeting on Aug. 27.

Ford Mennel repre-sents the fifth generation of the Mennel family to lead the company. He graduated from Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pennsylvania, U.S., with a bachelor’s of arts degree in hotel and restaurant manage-ment and an master’s of business administra-tion from Averett University. He has served as plant manager of Mennel’s flour mills in Michigan and Virginia, as well as assistant to the president prior to his election. Prior to Mennel, he worked in the hotel industry.

At the same meeting, Donald L. Mennel was elected chairman of the board. He has served as president since 1980.

Mennel

CME launches KC wheat short-dated options

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S. — CME Group announced on July 30 the launch of Short-Dated New Crop Options on KC Hard Red Winter (HRW) Wheat futures. These products will be listed with and subject to the rules and regulations of the KCBT.

“Since acquiring KCBT last year, we’ve significantly developed the HRW wheat op-tions complex through the introduction of in-novative new products and the growth of stan-dard options,” said Tim Andriesen, managing director, Agricultural Commodities & Alter-native Investments, CME Group. “These new short-dated options will provide market par-ticipants with a cost-effective tool to manage their price risk during targeted timeframes in the hard red winter wheat growing season. At the same time, average daily volume in our standard KC HRW Wheat options has in-creased by 30 percent since December 2012.”

KC HRW Wheat Short-Dated New Crop Op-tions are options on the July 2014 futures with earlier expiring contract months being listed — December 2013, March 2014 and May 2014.

Since their introduction, Short-Dated New Crop Options on Corn and Soybean futures have traded more than 975,000 contracts, and reached a peak of more than 240,000 in combined open interest ahead of the July options expiry.

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ADM earnings slip amid pre-tax charges, tight crop supplies

DECATUR, ILLINOIS, U.S. — Pre-tax charges, the ongoing GrainCorp Ltd. acquisition, tight crop supplies and an FCPA mat-ter all affected second-quarter earnings for Archer Daniels Mid-land Co. (ADM). The company had net earnings of $223 million, or 34¢ per share, in the quarter ended June 30, which compared with $284 million, or 43¢ per share, in the second quarter of the previous year.

Adjusted earnings were 46¢ per share, which compared with 38¢ per share in the second quarter of the previous year. They excluded about $39 million, or 4¢ per share, in pre-tax LIFO charges, $51 mil-lion, or 5¢ per share, in foreign-currency hedging losses related to the acquisition of GrainCorp, and $29 million, or 3¢ per share, of ad-ditional provisions related to a previously disclosed FCPA (Foreign Corrupt Practices Act) matter.

ADM has discussed the FCPA matter, which dates to 2008 and earlier, with the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. ADM now believes it is appropriate to increase its provision to $54 million from the $25 million established in the first quarter. The matter involves the handling of grain and feed exports.

ADM had sales and other operating income of $22.54 billion in the second quarter, which was down from $22.67 billion in the previous year’s second quarter.

“The team managed well through this period as tight U.S. crop

supplies reduced volumes,” said Patricia Woertz, chairman and chief executive officer, when results were given Aug. 6. “Also, corn results improved amid volatile ethanol industry conditions. During the quar-ter we continued our work to improve the company’s future returns and earnings power over the cycle. Our effort to unlock cash reached $2 billion, with the team reaching this milestone a half year ahead of schedule. And, in cost, we made solid progress toward our goal of $200 million in additional cost reductions by the end of 2014.

“Looking ahead, we’ll be managing through tight crop supplies until the forecast large but delayed U.S. harvest.”

Oilseeds Processing profit in the quarter decreased to $321 mil-lion from $331 million in the previous year’s second quarter. Weaker cocoa results offset a solid performance in crushing and origination. Tight crop supplies in North America resulted in weaker soy and softseed crush margins.

Due to improved ethanol results, Corn Processing profit increased to $223 million from $74 million. Operating profit in Agricultural Services fell to $81 million from $123 million.

ADM’s net debt position dropped to $5.5 billion from $8.9 billion a year ago. For the six months ended June 30, ADM had net earnings of $492 million, or 74¢ per share, which compared with $683 mil-lion, or $1.03, in the same time period of the previous year. Net sales and other operating income for the six months ended June 30 were $44.26 billion, up from $43.83 billion.

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Flour as a gift from the godsThe success of a harvest is a matter of divine providence. That is the belief of the Hopi Indians, a people living inclose contact with nature, who have developed agriculture in spite of poor soil. The secret of their success: friendlyrelations with the gods. In order to gainheavenly favour, they initiate a nine-dayceremony every two years at the end ofAugust to be sure of rain. The emissariesof the Hopi gods are poisonous rattle-snakes; on the ninth day they are passedround, taken into the participants’ mouths and sprinkled with fl our. After ritual washing, the snakes are set free inorder to take the prayers of the Hopi to the gods. That none of these ceremoniesended fatally provoked the curiosity of the zoologist Charles Mitchell Bogert. In 1941 he discovered why: poisonous snakes make Hopi wishes come true even when they are toothless.

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Cargill earnings rise in fiscal year despite drought

Cargill to purchase Australia’s largest malt producer

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA — Cargill Australia Limited on Aug. 5 confirmed that Glencore International has accepted its of-fer to purchase Joe White Maltings, which is Australia’s largest malt producer, with seven plants, and currently supplies brewers in multiple countries in Southeast Asia, as well as Australia.

Cargill currently operates malting facili-ties in Europe and the Americas. However, it does not have a presence in the Australian malting market.

“The addition of Joe White Malting will complete Cargill’s global footprint in all key barley production areas and enable us to better serve our global and leading regional brewers in the region,” Doug Eden, presi-dent of Cargill’s Global Malt business, said.

According to Philippa Purser, Cargill Aus-tralia Managing Director, Joe White Maltings

is a strong strategic fit for Cargill Australia and for Cargill’s Global Malt business. “Through its investments over many years, Cargill con-tinues to demonstrate a long-term commitment to the future and success of Australian agricul-ture and farmers, and we are delighted with this new opportunity in the malting industry. We look forward to bringing our malt industry expertise and additional capital to Joe White Maltings to continue to grow the business.”

By combining the strengths and talents of both companies, Cargill is confident it can build on Joe White Maltings’ proud history, meet the needs of its existing customers and create new opportunities for customers, sup-pliers, employees and the business.

The sales agreement is subject to certain regulatory approvals and the parties expect to complete the transaction prior to the end of 2013.

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, U.S. — Cargill’s net earnings almost doubled in the fiscal year ended May 31, rising to $2.31 bil-lion from $1.17 billion in the previous fis-cal year due to strong contributions from the origination and processing segment and the food ingredients and applications segment, the company reported Aug. 7.

Revenues for the fiscal year were $136.7 billion, up 2% from $133.9 billion. Cash flow from operations was $4.18 billion, a 19% increase from $3.51 billion in the pre-vious fiscal year.

“Nearly all of our business units were profitable, and more than two-thirds exceed-ed year-ago results,” said Greg Page, chair-man and chief executive officer of Cargill. “We did a better job of delivering innova-tions and solutions that help our customers succeed. We also drew on sourcing, logisti-cal and risk management skills to navigate volatile commodity markets in the first half that were driven by severe weather.”

The origination and processing segment was the largest contributor to earnings. Car-gill said its global footprint and strength in market analysis, logistics and risk manage-ment overcame supply challenges brought on by weather disruptions and tight stocks.

Combined earnings among the segment’s food ingredient businesses edged ahead of last year’s record although the effects of the North American drought and high commodi-ty prices challenged many units. Sweeteners, starches and cocoa in several countries had

strong performances. Combined earnings among the animal protein businesses in the segment were down from last year.

Results for the agriculture services segment were improved from last year. The integration of Provimi, a global animal nutrition business that was acquired in 2012, accelerated earn-ings growth in global animal nutrition.

Fiscal-year earnings in the risk manage-ment and financial segment rose. Fiscal-year earnings in the industrial segment were above earnings of the previous year, although fourth-quarter earnings decreased when compared to the previous year’s fourth quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Cargill company-wide had net earnings of $483 million, up from $73 million in the previous year’s fourth quarter, and revenues of $35.4 billion, up 4% from $34 billion.

Cargill has $2.6 billion of agricultural, food and energy projects under construc-tion, near completion or recently opened in 14 countries. They include a poultry further-processing plant in Efremov, Russia; an in-tegrated poultry production and processing complex in the Anhui province in China; additional poultry processing capacity in Korat, Thailand; an animal nutrition facil-ity in South Korea; a corn processing plant in Brazil’s southern state of Paraná, a cocoa processing plant in the East Java province in Indonesia; a bio-refinery campus in Fort Dodge, Iowa, U.S.; and a modernization and expansion project at a multi-seed processing plant in North Dakota.

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Global Grain Geneva planned Nov. 12-14

Carr’s Milling invests in feed mill joint venture

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND — The 11th Annual Global Grain Conference is planned Nov. 12-14 at the InterContinental Hotel, Geneva, Switzerland.

With more than 1,000 delegates from 60-plus countries attending from industry leading companies, this event offers unique network-ing opportunities alongside first-class content.

Presenters at the event will cover a wide variety of topics includ-ing adapting to a rapidly changing global environment for commodi-ties, analyzing the key issues relevant to the production environment across the world’s key producing regions and a series of short pre-

sentations covering the key markets of Black Sea, Australia, South America, North America and Europe.

Key features of the event include a separate Soft Commodities Seminar on Nov. 12, networking breaks and cocktail receptions, a re-designed and improved agenda and dedicated meeting areas avail-able across the hotel for private meetings.

Attendees have access to Global Grain Live, which gives them a chance to contact delegates before, after and during the event; view speaker papers; e-mail questions to the moderator; and access the agenda.

For more information, visit www.globalgrainevents.com.

CARLISLE, UNITED KINGDOM — Carr’s Milling Industries an-nounced on Aug. 20 that its wholly owned U.S. subsidiary, AFS Inc., is investing in a newly established joint venture for the production of its patented low-moisture feed block products. The new joint venture company, to be called ACC Feed Supplement LLC (ACC), will be 50% owned by AFS and Consumer Supply Distributing LLC (CSD). CSD is 50% owned by existing AFS customer, CHS Inc.

“Investing in ACC is in line with our strategic objective of build-ing our share of the U.S. low-moisture feed block market. We are experiencing continuing growth and demand for our patented low moisture feed blocks both in the U.S. and across all markets,” said

Tim Davies, Carr’s chief executive officer. “ACC adds to our cover-age of the USA where CHS and CSD have a significant, nationwide sales and distribution network.”

ACC will build a low-moisture feed block plant at the premises of CSD in Sioux City, Iowa, U.S., with an annual capacity of 12,000 tonnes, incorporating proprietary processing technology. The new plant will start production in the second half of 2014 and will supply customers of AFS, CHS and CSD.

ACC will add to existing low-moisture feed block plants in Ne-vada, Oklahoma and South Dakota, increasing AFS’ presence in the Central, Southern and Western markets in the U.S.

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course for the associa-tion’s future,” McCarthy said. “I have worked with NAMA’s excellent staff on a number of oc-casions, and I am eager to join the team and learn more about the industry.”


Ingredion earnings down 14%

WESTCHESTER, ILLINOIS, U.S. — In-gredion Inc. reported on July 31 a 14% drop in earnings for the second quarter of 2013 due to weakness in South America.

“After delivering very strong results on a consistent basis over many years, our second quarter was disappointing as we saw EPS fall and, as we previously announced, we brought down the outlook for our full year,” said Ilene Gordon, chairman, president and chief executive officer. “The shortfall and lowered outlook is the result of a challenging macro environment, particularly in South America where Argentina has seen a sharp acceleration of economic headwinds.”

Ingredion said sales were down in South America largely due to currency devalua-tions in Brazil and Argentina along with vol-ume declines resulting from continued weak economic conditions.

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NAMA appoints McCarthy new president

WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S. — James A. Mc-Carthy has been named president of the North American Millers’ Association (NAMA), ef-fective in October. McCarthy comes to NAMA from the Snack Foods Association (SFA), where he was president for nearly 15 years.

NAMA chairman James M. Meyer, who headed the search process, said McCarthy will bring new energy to the association.

“Jim’s leadership and association man-agement skills will be a valuable asset to NAMA and the future of our association,” Meyer said. “He joins an experienced and dynamic staff that will make for a very strong team to address our issues today and for the future.”

As president of the SFA, McCarthy has been the leading Washington representative responsible for policy issues affecting the $42 billion snack foods industry. There he cre-ated “strategic responses to and successfully guiding company members through nearly 20 years of state and federal issues such as childhood obesity, trade restrictions, use of trans-fats, food safety, food stamps, hunger, proposed taxes on snack foods and a myriad of other issues of critical importance to the in-dustry,” NAMA said.

McCarthy joined the SFA in 1991 and was named president and chief executive officer (CEO) until earlier this year when the titles were split between two individuals, McCar-thy as president, and Tom Dempsey as CEO.

Before joining the SFA, McCarthy was di-rector, federal government affairs of the Na-

McCarthy

tional Food Processors Association, where he was involved with activities surrounding passage of the Nutrition Labeling and Edu-cation Act of 1990.

McCarthy succeeds Mary Waters, who re-signed from NAMA earlier this year.

“I am looking forward to working with the NAMA board and members to chart a new

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New leadership at ADM Ag Services, Animal Nutrition

DECATUR, ILLINOIS, U.S. — Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) announced on Aug. 21 management appointments that in-clude giving additional responsibilities to Joseph Taets, senior vice-president and president of the Agricultural Services business unit and naming Brent Fenton as president, ADM Animal Nutrition.

“Consistent with our commitment to improve returns, we are as-signing leaders to build productivity and earnings power in key areas of opportunity,” said Juan Luciano, ADM executive vice-president and chief operating officer.

Taets will take on additional responsibility for strategy and growth activity across ADM’s business lines in Europe, Africa and India. Taets will relocate to the company’s European headquarters in Rolle, Switzerland.

“With the pending acquisition of GrainCorp, and the recent growth of our crop origination and processing assets in Eastern Eu-rope, embedding senior leadership in the region will assure we fully leverage the earnings power of our growing network,” said Luciano. “Joe is ideally suited for this position, with his current responsibili-ties for crop origination and transportation activity in more than 75 countries, combined with his previous experience managing ADM’s European oilseeds operations.”

ADM Animal Nutrition, based in Decatur, Illinois, U.S., will bring together ADM’s specialty feed business — which supplies the live-stock and aquaculture industries with amino acid-based feed ingre-

dients — with ADM Alliance Nutrition, Inc., a wholly owned sub-sidiary of ADM and a leading producer of livestock feed ingredients.

“With Brent’s strong commercial orientation, and his experience managing our European oilseeds business, he is well suited to im-prove returns by developing higher-value, higher-margin product op-portunities and delivering synergies in the combined specialty feed businesses,” Luciano said.

Taets is an officer of the corporation, and a member of the com-pany’s Global Operating Committee. As president of Agricultural Services, Taets is responsible for the commercial activities and op-erations of the company’s agricultural origination and transportation network — which spans more than 75 countries — as well as the company’s wheat milling and rice businesses.

Previously, he was president of ADM’s grain group, with respon-sibility for the company’s U.S. and export grain businesses, grain-merchandising operations, destination-marketing business, and ocean freight and vessel operations. Earlier, he was managing director of the company’s European Oilseeds operations. He joined ADM in 1988.

Taets represents ADM on boards in Argentina, the Dominican Re-public, Guatemala, Holland, Mexico, Panama and Switzerland.

Fenton previously served as president of European operations, where he was responsible for setting strategy and coordinating growth activity across all ADM business lines in the region as well as managing the company’s European oilseeds business. He joined ADM in 1992.



Emerald’s initial wheat export plan revised

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA — The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said on Aug. 14 that it will not accept Emerald Logistic Services initial plan for bulk wheat exports at Emerald’s bulk-grain port terminal in Melbourne, Australia, but said it would reconsider a revised proposal.

“While the ACCC considers most aspects

of Emerald’s proposed undertaking are ap-propriate, there are certain concerns,” ACCC Commissioner Joe Dimasi said.

Emerald has provided a draft revised under-taking to the ACCC in response to the concerns of the ACCC and stakeholders. The ACCC said the draft revised undertaking appropriate-ly addresses the ACCC’s concerns. If Emerald

formally resubmits a proposal in line with that draft revised undertaking, the ACCC’s prelimi-nary view is that it would be likely to accept it.

“To inform its final decision, the ACCC is seeking industry comment on the revisions made by Emerald,” Dimasi said.

Emerald’s undertaking adopts a similar framework to its current undertaking, which is due to expire on Sept. 30. Emerald’s re-visions include changes which give greater certainty to exporters about the target per-centage of grain to be transported by rail, clarify that customer agreement is required for stock swaps, and make clear that its ac-cess agreement only applies to port services.

The ACCC has a role in approving access undertakings for port terminal operators who also have bulk wheat exporting operations. The undertakings are intended to ensure that competing exporters are able to access the ports, ensuring fair competition in the mar-ket for the export of bulk wheat.

The ACCC is seeking comments from stakeholders on its draft decision. Submis-sions should be provided by Aug. 28.

The ACCC’s draft decision and Emerald’s draft revised undertaking are available at http://transition.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml?itemId=964331

Deyu outlines new strategy

BEIJING, CHINA — Deyu Agriculture Corp., a Shanxi Province, China-based ver-tically integrated producer, processor, mar-keter and distributor of agricultural products made from corn and grains, recently outlined its new strategic direction.

The company will continue to focus on its core businesses in the farming and in the con-sumer markets. For its agriculture business, Deyu said it intends to streamline its operations by reducing the number of partners involved when it comes to trading with parties within the value chain from farmer to end customer.

The company said it believes such chang-es will be possible as a result of the imple-mentation of a digital, on-line tool that will create scalability and efficiency. The tool will soon be introduced as well as the cre-ation of new sourcing and sales teams.

“We believe that these initiatives will pro-vide a valuable platform for sustainable growth in a market that continues to be more and more challenging,” said Greg Chen, chief executive officer of Deyu. “And we have confidence that the company can compete more effectively with our new digital operational approach.”

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We want to hear from you — Send comments and inquiries to [email protected]. For reprints of WG articles, e-mail [email protected].

traders Openfield, told World Grain. “There is not much going on because they don’t like the prices.”

That has left merchants short of rapeseed to fulfill export orders and crushers short of supply to keep plants running. “If it is the case now that people are scrabbling around, what’s going to happen in September, October, November or December,” he said. “If prices don’t go up, the farmer won’t sell it.”

In a report on the market, Rabobank noted bearish new crop price direction on soybeans, warning of the possibility of weather-related volatility. It also noted that Chinese imports picked up in June and are expected to gain strength going forward.

“While U.S. soybean supplies are still very tight in the old crop positions, the underlying price direction for soybeans continues to be bearish in expectation of a record U.S. crop,” it said. “New crop planted area was estimated by USDA at a record level of 77.7 mil-lion, implying that, weather permitting, the U.S. soy crop will be large enough to ease the current tightness, doubling stocks to use from 4.5% to 9%. This is the highest level since the 2006-07 season, and the main reason behind the bearish trend in new crop soy prices.”

“China’s soybean imports picked up in the last two months, with June imports just below 7 million tonnes, a 23% increase year-on-year,” Rabobank said. “Total imports for first-half 2013 were offi-cially reported at 27.5 million tonnes, with Brazil as the main sup-plier with 48.5% of the total, followed by the U.S. (45.6%). In June, however, exports from the U.S. to China were almost nil, while Bra-zil provided 5.7 million tonnes, and Argentina just under a million.”

Rabobank also explained that South America’s new crop produc-tion plans contribute to the bearish price scenario.

“Farmers in Brazil and Argentina are starting to commit to their 2013-14 planting plans,” it said. “Despite the overall bearish price scenario, we expect soybean acreage to increase both in Argen-tina and in Brazil. In Argentina, two things bias farmers toward soybeans. One is the lack of intervention in export markets. The other is the lower upfront planting cost and higher margins that soybeans provide.”

OilseedsBumper crops give market a bearish toneby Chris Lyddon

Prices are being pushed downward as the world is set to produce big oilseed crops. Farmers in Europe, which has just harvested its rapeseed crop, are holding supplies back in the hope of a recovery.

The International Grains Council (IGC), in its most recent Grain Market Report, reported a 13% month-on-month (m/m) fall in its IGC GOI soybean sub-index as weather conditions have bolstered forecasts for a bumper crop. “In addition to fundamentally driven falls in the U.S. and South America, the steep decline was also partly due to the switch from old to new crop (October) Gulf export quota-tions,” it said.

It “tentatively predicted” a 6% year-on-year rise in world soybean production in 2013-14, with trade up 9% as demand grows in China. The IGC also predicted a 4% rise in rapeseed/canola output in 2013-14 to reach a new record, although it expects high prices and tight availabilities to limit consumption growth to 1%.

The IGC also noted a m/m rise of 4% in U.S. futures. “Tight supplies and firm cash markets initially supported spot futures, while concerns about the impact of hot and dry weather on U.S. yield potential further underpinned,” it said. “However, USDA’s supply and demand update, released on July 11, underscored pros-pects for a record 2013-14 outturn and a significant recovery in carryover stocks.

“More recently, nearby futures posted steep declines on increased farmer selling, with the unwinding of old/new crop spreads adding to bearish sentiment. With spot futures falling relatively more steeply than deferred contracts, the old/new crop (Aug./Nov.) futures pre-mium narrowed significantly, by 6% m/m, to just $1.68/bushel.”

Elsewhere, new crop values in Brazil declined by around $21, to $496 fob (Paranagua), while quotations in Argentina fell by around $34, to $505 fob (Up River), with the heavy fall in futures outweigh-ing the impact of firmer basis levels, the IGC said.

For rapeseed, the IGC projected a record 63.8-million-tonne glob-al crop in 2013-14, a year-on-year rise of 4%, noting there will be larger crops in the northern hemisphere, notably in Canada, the E.U. and Ukraine.

“After initially rising, mainly on support from strength in soy-beans, nearby (November) ICE (Winnipeg) canola futures declined steeply, falling by 9% m/m, to near three-year lows,” the IGC said. “Values were weighed by technical selling, favorable crop conditions and currency movements. In addition to an anticipated larger crop in Canada, similar prospects elsewhere in the northern hemisphere, most notably in the E.U. (Germany) and Ukraine, were bearish. More recently, steep falls in nearby U.S. soybean futures added to the nega-tive tone, but overall declines were limited by a slowdown in farmer selling and a generally tight fundamental outlook.”

Low values mean that European rapeseed producers are being slow to sell what has been a late-harvested crop. “The market has really been starved,” John Thorpe, senior oilseeds trader at British

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IGC GOI soybean sub-index

Source: International Grains Council

Chris Lyddon is World Grain’s European editor. He may be contacted at: [email protected].


Focus on LibyaHampered by political turmoil and little arable land, the North African country is a major importer of grains and � our

by Chris Lyddon

Key Facts

Libya has gone through enormous political turmoil in recent years with a change of government after protests resulted in the toppling of its long standing regime. The country’s oil industry makes it one of the wealthiest in Africa but most of its area is desert and its agricultural production is small, making it depen-dent on large-scale imports of products like grains. It also lacks a processing industry of any size which means that much of its grain needs must be imported as fl our.

“Libya relies heavily on imports to meet its food requirements, as only 1.7% of the land is arable and the food produced inside Libya is far from suffi cient for the population,” the World Food Programme says on its website. “The 2011 confl ict combined with international sanctions crippled the economy, which is high-ly dependent on revenues from the oil sector, and caused severe food shortages. Thousands of Libyans were displaced as a result and tens of thousands of migrant workers fl ed the country result-ing in a shortage in labor.”

The unrest is ongoing and continues to have political re-percussions. On Aug. 18, the British Broadcasting Corpora-

tion reported that Libya’s Interior Minister, Mohammed Khalifa al-Sheikh, had resigned only three months after taking up the post.

“The interior ministry has come under pressure to deal with vio-lence that has plagued Libya since the 2011 uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi ,” the broad-caster said. He was the second cab-inet minister to quit in two weeks.

Awadh al-Barassi resigned as deputy prime minister on Aug. 4.

The country’s ability to use its oil wealth is threat-ened by the situation. The Agence France Presse news agency reported on Aug. 21 that Libya’s Na-

tional Oil Company “declared force majeure at its main export terminals on Wednesday, as striking security guards kept up a blockade they launched in late July.”

The move marked a major blow to an industry that accounts

Capital: Tripoli (Tarabulus) Population: 6,002,347 (July 2013 est.) Religions: Sunni Muslim (of� cial) 97%, other 3%.Location: Northern Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria. Government: Operates under a transitional government. Chief of state: President Muhammad Yusuf al-Maqaryaf; head of government: Prime Minister Ali Zaydan (since Oct. 14, 2012).Economy: Libya’s economy is structured primarily around the nation’s energy sector, which generates about 95% of export earnings, 80% of GDP, and 99% of government income. Substantial revenue from the energy sector coupled with a small population give Libya one of the highest per capita GDPs in Africa, but Tripoli largely has not used its signi� cant � nancial resources to develop national infrastructure or the economy, leaving many citizens poor. In the � nal � ve years of Muammar Gadda� ’s rule, Libya made some progress on economic reform as part of a broader campaign to reintegrate the country into the international fold. This effort picked up steam after UN sanctions were lifted in September 2003 and after Libya announced in December 2003 that it would abandon programs to build weapons of mass destruction. The process of lifting U.S. unilateral sanctions began in the spring of 2004; all sanctions were removed by June 2006, helping Libya attract greater foreign direct investment, especially in the energy and banking sectors. Libyan oil and gas licensing rounds drew high international interest, but new rounds are unlikely to be successful until Libya establishes a more permanent government and is able to offer more attractive � nancial terms on contracts and increase security. Libya faces a long road ahead in liberalizing its primarily socialist economy, but the revolution has unleashed previously restrained entrepreneurial activity and increased the potential for the evolution of a more market-based economy. The service and construction sectors, which account for roughly 60% of GDP, expanded over the past � ve years and could become a larger share of GDP if Tripoli prioritizes capital spending on development projects once political and security uncertainty subside. Climatic conditions and poor soils severely limit agricultural output, and Libya imports about 80% of its food. Libya’s primary agricultural water source is the Great Manmade River Project. GDP per capita: $12,300 (2012 est.); in� ation: 6.1% (2012 est.); unemployment: 30% (2004 est.) Currency: Libyan dinars (LYD): 1.265 Libyan dinars equal 1 U.S. dollar (Aug. 22, 2013). Exports: $52.12 billion (2012 est.): crude oil, re� ned petroleum products, natural gas, chemicals. Imports: $18.1 billion (2012 est): machinery, semi-� nished goods, food, transport equipment, consumer products. Major crops/agricultural products: Wheat, barley, olives, dates, citrus, vegetables, peanuts, soybeans; cattle. Agriculture: 1.6% of GDP and 17% of the labor force.Internet: Code: .ly; 17,926 (2012) hosts and 353,900 (2009) users.

Source: CIA World Factbook

Awadh al-Barassi resigned as deputy prime minister

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wwwww.w.ococririm.m.cocomm



AMANDUS KAHL GmbH & Co. KG, Dieselstrasse 5-9, D-21465 Reinbek / Hamburg, Phone: +49 40 727 71 0, Fax: +49 40 727 71 100

[email protected], www.akahl.de

Complete Plants and Machines for the Feed IndustryComplete Plants and Machines for the Feed Industry

Extruder OEEFor the production of fishfeedExtruder OEEFor the production of fishfeed

0

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There are still very few mills in Libya and the need to import flour will con-tinue into the future, the counselor said. According to an analysis published by the World Food Programme in 2011, nationally there were 20 privately-owned mills, and 30 publicly-owned facilities. According to Reuters, Libya bought 50,000 tonnes of wheat flour from Russia in July, to come via the Ukrainian port of Kerch. In its most re-cent quarterly update on world trade in wheat flour, the IGC predicted Libya’s flour imports in 2013-14 at 250,000 tonnes, unchanged from the previous year, but well down on the 366,000 tonnes imported in 2011-12.

There have been reports of problems for Libyan importers. “Libya is having to pay extra for food imports and trad-ers say some foreign firms are divert-ing shipments elsewhere due to fears — dismissed as unfounded by Tripoli — that growing disarray in the coun-try could delay payments,” the Re-uters news agency said in a report in December. “The North African state, much of which is desert, is a big food buyer and has stepped up purchases of staples including wheat and sugar since the end of fighting that toppled dictator Muammar Gaddafi.”

Tripoli shop shelves are now full of foreign produce. But while international

Sarah Mann, manager of British Ce-real Exports, the U.K.’s cereal export promotion body which is part of the Agricultural and Horticultural Devel-opment Board, has researched Libya as a potential export market. “In terms of opportunity for U.K. cereals, meeting the tender specification would be quite tough,” she told World Grain. “They need a low moisture and a high Hagberg falling number.

“However, some optimism on future opportunities exists with the devel-oping private sector in Libya which could require different specifications which the U.K. could meet. There-fore, along with other markets in the Middle East region, BCE follows the trade and looks for opportunities as they may arise.”

British Cereal Exports recently met with the Libyan Commercial Counsel-or at the Libyan Embassy in London to discuss the situation there. They heard that the government body NASCO still exists but does not have as much influ-ence as it used to under Libya’s previ-ous regime.

The National Company for Flour Mills & Fodder is responsible for all cereal imports into Libya and operates on a tender basis. The private sector is obliged to import wheat on its behalf, therefore it is not fully independent.

for virtually all of the North African nation’s foreign exchange earnings, AFP said.

“Libya’s main oil terminals have been hit by strikes since late July that caused production to plummet to less than 330,000 barrels per day before rising again to 670,000 bpd,” it said. “Even that figure fell short of the 1.6 million bpd averaged before the 2011 overthrow and killing of veteran dicta-tor Muammar Gaddafi.”

It noted that “Libya is almost entirely dependent on oil and gas for its foreign exchange earnings, with hydrocarbons accounting for more than 80% of its GNP and up to 97% of its exports.”

importer of european wheatThe IGC gives a figure of 100,000

tonnes for Libya’s total wheat produc-tion, unchanged from the previous year. It forecasts total Libyan grain imports at 2.5 million tonnes in 2013-14, com-pared with 2.7 million in 2012-13. The forecast import total includes 1.6 mil-lion tonnes of wheat, down from 1.8 million the year before. Barley imports are forecast at 200,000 tonnes, down from 300,000. Traditionally Europe has had the dominant share of the Libyan wheat market at around 40% of its im-ports, with about 30% coming from Russia and 14% coming from Ukraine.

* Projected ** Forecast Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture

countryFocUScountryFocUS


AMANDUS KAHL GmbH & Co. KG, Dieselstrasse 5-9, D-21465 Reinbek / Hamburg, Phone: +49 40 727 71 0, Fax: +49 40 727 71 100

[email protected], www.akahl.de

Complete Plants and Machines for the Feed IndustryComplete Plants and Machines for the Feed Industry

Extruder OEEFor the production of fishfeedExtruder OEEFor the production of fishfeedFor more information, see Page 122.

traders had viewed oil-producing Libya as a lucrative market, some now say they are backing off from trade, Reuters said.

“Libya has a huge amount of oil wealth, but its chaotic administration and fears about non-payment are still giving it a bad reputation in internation-al trade,” the agency quoted a European Grain trader as saying.

The British group was told there is no biscuit sector in Libya. Libya imports biscuits as a final product from neigh-boring Tunisia. The whole market was monopolized by Tunisia but Turkey has recently captured a share of the biscuit market in Libya.

They also heard that bread is wide-ly consumed. Many people consume brown bread, especially during Rama-dan and other Muslim festivals. There is only one kind of bread flour in Libya. The Counselor said that Libya has been importing wheat from South America.

U.S. exporters are also interested in the Libyan market. In December, U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) invited officials and milling industry executives to the U.S. to

learn about wheat production standards. “The Libyan members of this team

include two general managers of major private milling companies operating at the east side of Libya with combined daily milling capacity of 1,600 tonnes,” USW said.

“Because each country must import wheat, both Egypt and Libya make it a policy to provide bread for their people

at a very low cost,” said Hesham Has-sanein, regional marketing and special projects manager with the USW region-al office in Cairo, Egypt. “We want to

help prove to both government officials and private buyers that they can rely on the United States as a wheat supplier by demonstrating first-hand the distinctive qualities of U.S. wheat and by building trust in the U.S. supply chain and in-spection procedures.”



“Libya relies heavily on imports to meet its food requirements, as only 1.7% of the land is arable and the food produced inside Libya is far from sufficient for the population.”

— World Food Programme

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globala

FEATURE


globalfootprint

FEATURE: PURSUING A GLOBAL FOOTPRINT

globalPursuing

ecognition that establishing a glob-al presence is crucial for grains and oilseeds companies thriving

in the 21st century stands as a principal factor in the success of Bunge Ltd. in the years since its 2001 initial public offer-ing, said the man who led the company in its fi rst dozen years as a public company.

Alberto Weisser, who recently retired as chief executive and will be executive chairman through the end of 2013, of-fered his perspectives on globalization of the grain business during a July inter-view with Milling & Baking News mag-azine, sister publication of World Grain.

“The main reason (for the IPO) was our recognizing that times had changed,” he said. “Either you become global and large, or you can’t compete. So we needed money to do acquisitions and make investments.”

The degree to which Bunge has suc-ceeded at becoming a truly global com-pany must be measured against where the company stood in 1996. It was that year when the company completed di-vesting a number of businesses it decid-ed did not represent a strategic fi t.

“Most people don’t realize it, but af-ter we restructured the business, I would say two-thirds of the profi t were in North America,” Weisser said.

With the profi t in North America and the IPO proceeds, the company had the base for building its presence in South America. Europe followed and then Asia.

“Now we are doing Australia and Africa,” he said. Growing in key geog-raphies and products allows us to con-tinue building our global network.”

Excluding its sugarcane milling oper-

R

Bunge has made expanding its business internationally a top priority

by Josh Sosland

ations located solely in Brazil, Weisser described Bunge today as “very bal-anced” geographically.

“In the mid-2000s we started focus-ing much more on India and China,” he said. “Both are growing but are still early investments.”

With locations in multiple geographies and in multiple products, the company believes it is very well-positioned to

mance offers validation of the company’s strategy. Even with a few rocky quarters in the past year because of weaker oil-seed processing margins, Bunge racked up an average annual total shareholder return between August 2001 and May 2013 of 15%, a much better rate of return than the 3% for the S&P 500 or the 9% for Bunge’s peer group. Shareholder eq-uity in 2012 was $10.9 billion, up from $1.8 billion in 2001.

As dramatic as Bunge’s growth has been, and despite the size and strength of its largest competitors and the emer-gence of new major players, opportuni-ties for further expansion are not closed to the company or to the industry, Weisser said.


FEATURE

Bunge operates one of the largest and most ef� cient grain and oilseed export terminals in Brazil at the port of Santos.

serve customers. “Everything is con-nected,” Weisser said. “Developments in one region affect other regions. Take the example of last year’s drought, which drastically affected the corn market.

“Low supply led to high prices and increased volatility. But we were able to quickly switch our origination program from the U.S. to Brazil to ensure our cus-tomers got the products they needed.”

Bunge today has a global footprint in all its key markets, a description Weisser said does not apply to any other grain exporter besides Cargill.

Bunge’s long-term share price perfor-

“Many people talk about the consoli-dation of this industry,” he said. “But it’s still very fragmented. When you look around the world, its 2.5 billion tonnes of oilseeds and grains that are sold. And when you look at what we do, the quantity is small. You add Cargill, ADM, Bunge, Dreyfus, it’s still small. There are years of growth ahead of us.”

The fragmented state of world

Alberto Weisser, who recently retired as chief executive of Bunge, will serve as executive chairman through the end of 2013. Photos courtesy of Bunge.

FEATURE: PURSUING A GLOBAL FOOTPRINT

Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part series on Bunge. More articles on Bunge will appear in the October issue of World Grain.


commodity handling and trade helps explain the emergence in recent years of new large players like Olam International Ltd., Glencore Xstrata and Wilmar International, Weisser said. These entrants evolved amid a marketplace that was already undergo-ing wrenching change.

“Continental Grain and Andre dis-appeared so we took over a lot of the business, as did Cargill,” Weisser said. “You used to have many more smaller

brokers. That doesn’t work anymore. You can’t have single individual com-mercial people doing it because you need the assets. I think that is probably the big change that now affects this business — you need assets. That’s why you need strong, global companies and that is why you see also companies like Marubeni buying Gavilon. And the third tier companies becoming second tier. Or Glencore buying Viterra. There is room for these companies.”

Adding to the importance of a global footprint is re-emergence of Eastern Europe in grains and growth of South America as large exporters of grain, Weisser said.

“In the early 1990s most of the grain came from the U.S. and now it is more evenly originated — North America, including Canada; South America — Argentina, Brazil; Eastern Europe — Ukraine, Russia,” he said. “That is ma-jor change. And that also means substi-tution occurs with wheat, barley, corn and other grains. That is why our teams are global. Our Bunge Global Markets staff includes Danes, Americans, Dutch, Brazilians, Argentines, Italians, Russians. When you go into our differ-ent operations you would be amazed how many nationalities there are. We want that range of experience.”

Tracing Bunge’s path toward estab-lishing a global footprint, Weisser said efforts intensified in the largest emerg-ing nations after the company had estab-lished a strong presence in the Americas and Europe. The key move was the 2002 acquisition of a controlling interest in Cereol S.A., which made Bunge the world’s largest oilseeds processor.

For Bunge as well as other companies, consolidation does not necessarily mean

Bunge IPO part of ‘sea change’ across entire grain industryWhen Alberto Weisser joined Bunge Ltd. as chief finan-

cial officer in 1993, the company was based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and had a plan to go public that was anything but a sure thing.

“It was a dream that we were not sure we would be able to achieve,” he said.

“This was a commodity company, and competitors in our arena thought it was not possible,” he said. “Most of the others were private — Cargill, Continental and Andre. Only ADM was public, but they began as an industrial company.”

The completion of the 2001 IPO “felt very good,” Weisser said, but he added that the company’s share price did not do much at first. Just a month after the offering, the stock market and the economy were hit hard by the Sept. 11 attacks in New York, about 30 miles from the White Plains, New York, U.S., headquar-ters where the company relocated in 1999.

Since then, Bunge’s share price has sharply advanced — up

390%, adjusted for dividends, since August 2001.Bunge is not alone among grain companies when it comes to

change since the 1990s. Because many of the leading grain com-panies worldwide today are either public or have other disclosure requirements, perceptions of the grain trading industry as one shrouded in secrecy are changing, Weisser said.

“We have to be much more transparent,” he said. “I spent, we all spent a lot of time talking to public stakeholders, communi-ties, non-governmental organizations, governments. You would be surprised how much time I spent with the Chinese govern-ment, the Middle East to talk about food security, how the system works and with non-governmental organizations about what’s going on with the environment and things like that. When you are a private company you don’t need to do this. But as a public company you have to do it, and it’s also an opportunity to explain that we are doing a good service to the community because we serve so many people.”

With expanded refining capacity and a packaging plant, Bunge’s integrated soybean processing plant in Decatur, Alabama, U.S., can more efficiently serve food customers in the southeastern U.S.

FEATURE: pursuing a global footprint


colossal acquisitions, Weisser said.“In our expansion into Australia and

Africa, we are acquiring smaller local players, partnering in joint ventures and growing organically,” he said. “But it’s not just expanding geographies, it’s also expanding relationships with our customers. We’ve moved from being a supplier to a partner. We work with our customers on everything from de-veloping new products to replacing ingredients in existing products to an-ticipating consumer trends. We have invested a lot in business intelligence and have built a new innovation center in the U.S.”

From an asset basis, Bunge also has invested in the food ingredient sector. In North America, for example, they rebuilt a Bunge Oils facility in Fort Worth, Texas, U.S., and built a new packaging plant in Decatur, Alabama, U.S., to replace aging infrastructure in Chattanooga, Tennessee, U.S. A global footprint is not necessarily at odds with a streamlined corporate structure, Weisser said. In a 2002 interview with Milling & Baking News, he said Bunge’s corporate head-quarters in White Plains did not and would not have a large number of the company’s workforce. He said a decen-tralized structure and an “entrepreneur-ial spirit” were critical to success going forward. The largest part of Bunge’s business remains selling to the feed and food industry with localized operations around the world, and so to a signifi-cant degree, the Bunge approach has not changed. In the 2013 interview, he said entrepreneurship remains a key part of the value system that has been the focus of his tenure.

“I think it is still the same spirit,” he said. “I feel very strongly about my contribution to building the culture and team, and that is reflected in our values — integrity, teamwork, entrepreneur-ship, openness and trust, and citizen-ship. We could not have grown as much as we have without these values.

“But one thing that has evolved, as we have grown and as the market has changed, is our decentralized business

model. Today, we are both decentral-ized and integrated. We have functions that connect the dots around the world, not only here in White Plains but also in St. Louis, Geneva and Singapore. When customers are buying in Asia, and we are buying from farmers in the Americas, then somebody has to connect the dots. Certain functions are completely decen-tralized close to the market, but when it comes to risk management, when it comes to controls, you have to have a centralized approach. So the business has evolved.”

Expanding on how entrepreneurship has manifested itself at Bunge over the past generation, Weisser said the company’s positioning from a “sec-ond-tier regional company” in 1996 to the top global oilseeds processor today only could have been achieved through acquisitions. He described a more nimble Bunge corporate culture very different than the stereotypical large company corporate culture with layers of executives hesitant to “pull the trigger.”

“In order to do smart acquisitions you have to be locally connected and em-powered,” he said. “So I empowered my team to do things. Obviously when they came up with ideas I participated in

the negotiation, but they created the op-portunity. Then we could move fast. We never would have been able to grow as much as we have if we didn’t have this entrepreneurial spirit.”

The importance of having a global network of assets has been height-ened by climate change, Weisser said. He noted Bunge currently operates 30 ports, up from only four when he joined the company.

“Suddenly you have a drought here, you have a drought there, and you still have to serve your customers,” he said. “Remember when we had the major drought in Russia in 2010? We served customers in the Middle East and Spain, not from Russia, but from America and Brazil. We did this in a couple of days, re-routing the products. With the Arab Spring, who is continuing to feed the Middle East? You have to have skills and assets, and you have to have the team to do that. You need to be every-where and strong.”

Josh Sosland is editor of Milling & Baking News, sister publication of World Grain. He can be

reached at [email protected].



Part of a joint venture with SCF Marine, Bunge’s newest grain elevator in Fairmont City, Illinois, U.S., was built with a focus on efficiency.

FEATURE: purSuing a global Footprint

030_WG_Sept13_Bunge.indd 34 10/7/2013 9:23:32 AM


hen Bunge Ltd. went public in 2001, the company’s stated strategic objectives were to grow its agribusi-ness and fertilizer operations, having sold off a scat-

tering of businesses in several other sectors. After steadfastly pursuing this strategy, Bunge more recently has heightened its emphasis on agribusiness while paring back in fertilizer.

But for the initial public offering, Bunge would not have been able to accomplish what it has in either sector, said Alberto Weisser, executive chairman. To begin, the offering, in which the company raised more than a quarter billion dol-lars, allowed Bunge to acquire Cereol S.A. (including Central Soya) for approximately €1.3 billion in 2002.

“Our agribusiness segment today is 10 times bigger,” he said. “Ten years ago we would never have been able to do this.”

Even though the segment has faced challenges, Weisser, who retired earlier this year as chief executive officer, was unequivocal in his view of how agribusiness has fared during the past decade-plus.

“In agribusiness, we have been completely successful,” he said. “We are very happy with the direction we have gone and are going. We are in the right industry and the strategies have worked out. Now obviously at the moment the whole industry is under a challenge, because we have some excess crush capaci-ty. So you have seen returns coming down. It’s hurt everybody.”

Still, Weisser recalled comments made in a 2002 Milling & Baking News interview, recognizing that profitability in oilseeds processing (part of the company’s agribusiness seg-ment) is unavoidably cyclical. Weakness in oilseeds process-ing has pressured earnings in the past year. Still, he said the cyclicality is not as severe as in the past.

“Margins today in North America are smaller, but not as low as they have been in the past,” he said. “Our industry has be-come more rational and resilient. We have had over 30 years of growth in global vegetable oil consumption. But the returns are below what they should be. I think that will solve itself with ad-ditional demand and then capacity utilization goes up.”

Also in the segment, the company has grown geographical-

W Company putting heightened emphasis on Agribusiness while paring back Fertilizer

by Josh Sosland

Divergent paths for Bunge business sectors

ly and added financial and other services for farmers as well as additional products.

“Our strategy in agribusiness was about growing in more prod-ucts and in more geographies,” he said. “We started with soybean and added canola, sunflower, palm and peanuts. And in grain, we started with corn and added wheat, barley, sorghum and rice.”

Weisser offered as an example of the company’s success

FEATURE


outside the oilseeds sector Bunge’s export port terminal in Nikolayev in the Ukraine (opened in 2010), of which he said, “It came absolutely at the right time.”

It complements a second Bunge facility 400 miles to the east in Rostov, Russia.

“This is what we needed to sustain our own flows of ex-ports into Europe and the Middle East and Northern Africa,” he said. “That is part of our strategy in Eastern Europe, to be strong in grains for export, strong in oilseeds domestically and for export, and also to import meal for the meat industry.”

Of Bunge’s EGT export elevator in Longview, Washington, U.S., the single largest capital investment in Bunge’s his-tory, Weisser said the facility is well-positioned following start-up difficulties. The project initially was hampered by a labor dispute with the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union and then by a short crop in 2012.

“It’s running very well, and we are excited about operating with the new harvest that is starting now,” he said. “The facil-ity handles a balanced mix of wheat, soybeans and corn, all for export to Asia.”

Weisser said Bunge also was satisfied with what has hap-pened in its fertilizer business.

“In fertilizer, we changed tactics,” he said. “Although we were in the business for more than 75 years, we realized that the industry had changed as large mining companies started to enter. State-owned companies started going into it. For in-stance, Saudi Arabia built a massive, modern facility. So we determined we could not compete with the mining companies. We are a food and agribusiness company.”

He said he felt fortunate to have found a buyer in Vale Fertilizantes S.A. looking to expand in the business. The $3.8 billion transaction, which closed in 2010, allowed Bunge to recapitalize, giving the company “room to do other invest-ments” while also improving its credit rating.

“There was significant value creation because we started basically with nothing, paid very little for what we bought and sold it for nearly $4 billion dollars,” he said. “And in these 10 years there was $2 billion dollars in cash flow.”

Asked about the greatest disappointment of his tenure, Weisser cited Bunge’s attempt to acquire Corn Products International for $4.4 billion, an effort that ultimately proved unsuccessful. The stock transaction was undone in the fall of 2008, in part, by a collapse in equity prices. Bunge shares fell by 64% from May to November — from $119.37 to $42.46.

Bunge has moved on, and has stepped up its presence in the sugar and bioenergy business with major investments.

“That’s a business that still has to prove itself,” Weisser said. “I’m confident it will.”

Josh Sosland is editor of Milling & Baking News, sister publication of World Grain. He can be reached at [email protected].


FEATURE


FEATURE: divergent pathS For Bunge BuSineSS SectorS


ecently, Africa’s smallest nation in terms of land area undertook an important step along the path to greater food independence. On July 1, an offi cial inauguration

took place for Gambia’s fi rst fl our mill. The fl our mill was built in Banjul — Gambia’s capital city, economic center and home to the country’s most important port. Geographically, Gambia is a peninsula within Senegal with an Eastern coast-line along the North Atlantic Ocean. The nation is made up of the Gambia River, its fl oodplain and river valley. In July 2013, the population of Gambia was estimated at 1,883,051.

The 300-tonne-per-day fl our mill is part of the Gambia Milling Corporation (GMC), which is owned by a group of investors including Merriam, Kansas, U.S.-based Seaboard

Corp., and Premier Investment Group. This is Seaboard’s fi rst investment in Gambia, but Premier Investment has ex-perience in this market. GMC will be operating as a joint venture with Seaboard responsible for technical support and grain supply.

Agriculture plays an important role in Gambia’s economy as it accounts for almost a quarter (22.3%) of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and three quarters of Gambia’s

RSmall African country’s � rst commercial � our mill represents an opportunity for its investors, operators and the nation itself

by Meyer Sosland

GambiaGambiA big step forward for

(Above) His Excellency Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, along with members of his government and representatives of the Gambia Milling Corporation (GMC), inspect various products and raw materials. From left: Honorable Minister of Trade Kebba Touray; Senior Vice-President of Seaboard’s Government Affairs Ralph Moss; His Excellency President Jammeh; GMC Chairman Mohamed Bazzi; and GMC Executive Director Armando Lopes. Photos courtesy of Seaboard Corp.

FEATURE

Lambton Conveyor Limited | Wallaceburg, ON. Canada+1-519-627-8228 | [email protected] more information, see Page 122.


workers make their livelihood from the agricultural sector.

Gambia is not rich in natural resource deposits and has a limited agricultural base. The agricultural sector has un-tapped potential — less than half of ar-able land is cultivated. The economy re-lies in part on remittances from workers overseas and tourist receipts.

An exclamation point to the impor-tance of the July 1 celebration was the attendance at the inauguration by His Excellency Dr. Yahya Jammeh, the President of the Gambia. Members of the global grain and milling industry were also in attendance to inaugurate Gambia’s first commercial flour mill.

“I am informed that the mill is es-tablished with an investment outlay of $17 million and has a capacity of 300 tonnes per day and will create job op-portunities for over 300 Gambians,” His Excellency President Jammeh said at the inauguration. “Over the years, I have been talking about Africa moving away from export of raw materials to value addition, and this investment has exactly answered to this call. As a result, I have learned that the project will help to save the Gambian economy millions of U.S. dollars per annum in foreign ex-change that would have been spent in the purchase of imported flour.”

Also in attendance at the inaugura-

tion were: Vice-President Aja Dr. Isatou Njie-Saidy; Chief Justice Joseph Wowo; National Assembly Speaker Honorable Abdoulie Bojang; cabinet ministers, members of the diplomatic and consular corps, senior dignitaries, management and staff of Seaboard Corporation, man-agement and staff of GMC and a cross-section of the community.

international millThe GMC mill is the end product

of the efforts of people across several continents working together toward a common goal. Padova, Italy-based Mill Service S.p.A. was responsible for the mill equipment supply, local con-tractors did the civil engineering and the equipment was manufactured by Corum, Turkey-based Alapala Machine Industry & Trade Inc. Co.

The flour mill is located approximate-ly 1 kilometer from the Port of Banjul and is a modern, 3-level milling facility that includes a mill building, flour ware-house, a well-equipped laboratory and 15,000 tonnes of grain storage space.

The plant is a traditional mill with au-tomation, a cleaning house with a ca-pacity of 15 tph, a milling house with a 300-tonne-per-day capacity and pelleting line. The mill section of the facility fea-tures three 8-section sifters, 13 roller mills and 1 double-high roller mill.

Due to the area’s high water table, special attention was paid to the three-story facility’s foundation. The first lev-el of the facility is concrete and the other two are a metallic structure.

Mill Services was awarded the con-tract in 2010 to supply the 300-tonne-per-day flour mill. The plant was deliv-ered on site in early 2011 and erection started in February/March of 2012.

“Total construction time stem to stern was about two years, although we only became involved about a year into the project,” Dave Dannov, Seaboard chief executive officer for Seaboard Overseas & Trading Group, Seaboard’s grain trading, transportation and pro-cessing division, told World Grain in a recent interview.

The facility was built with the capac-ity to be expanded. Whether or not ex-pansion occurs depends on the demand from the domestic and export markets.

mutually beneficialThe establishment of the Banjul flour

milling facility is seen to have a number of positive outcomes. It helps Gambia become more self-sufficient and in-crease its trade.

“This national milieu is what inves-tors require to have a prosperous and secure investment. The sincerity and honesty of the Gambian people is also

His Excellency President Jammeh with Mohamed Bazzi, GMC chairman, and Armando Lopes, GMC executive director, inspecting the milling facilities.

FEATURE: a big step forward for gambia


an essential goodwill indispensable to business success. The strategic posi-tion of the country as the Gateway to West Africa provides a strong platform to explore the huge market potential within the West African sub-region and beyond,” His Excellency President Jammeh explained.

“My government is always willing to go the extra mile to support investments that are in the interest of the Gambian people and in line with our national de-velopment agenda. I am convinced that this project, which is one of the biggest investments in Gambia, by the private sector, meets these expectations.”

Previously, all of the flour in Gambia was imported, primarily from Europe and Turkey. Seaboard said it expects to bring in a combination of French and U.S. HRW grains to the Banjul facility.

“This project is industrial but is also an agricultural investment, because it will lead to excellent quality flour, food security and food self-sufficiency, high potential foreign exchange attraction through export, employment opportuni-ties and an animal feed mill to produce sufficient quantities of feed for cattle and poultry in Gambia and the sub-region,” GMC Chairman Mohamed Bazzi added at the inauguration. “This will also en-courage investment in cattle and poultry farms leading to food self-sufficiency.”

His Excellency President Jammeh en-couraged GMC to consider implementing the animal feed mill, the second phase of the project, as soon as possible. He said that will cater for the huge demand in the market and the potential to open up other sectors and activities. The planned animal feed mill will require large quan-tities of corn and this will encourage corn farming. GMC is also set to develop a big storage facility for all types of grains at the port’s former Navy base by 2014.

“Our appreciation goes out especially to our partners, Seaboard, for all their support, know-how and vast experience in running many flour mills in Africa and around the world. We thank them for coming on board with us and for sharing our strong belief in investing in this country under the leadership and vi-sion of Your Excellency,” Bazzi said.

This investment is seen as an excel-lent strategic move for Seaboard and the other investors. “From a Seaboard standpoint, it will nicely add to our West African supply logistics,” Dannov said. “From a local standpoint, it is about food security, employment, creation and agricultural development.

“Our biggest challenge will be im-ported flour from countries that current-ly have structures that promote export through internal subsidies and convinc-ing the baker base to change from their

existing supplier sources. This will be achieved through competitive pricing and superior quality.”

This move also gives Seaboard the opportunity to take advantage of its ex-isting logistics capabilities and regional assets already in place.

“We are excited about the logistics as Seaboard already owns bulk vessels and is delivering wheat constantly to its other milling affiliates in West Africa along with our third-party customers,” Dannov said.

growth opportunitiesThe Banjul flour mill is set to sell

premium quality flour under the name “Arch Flour” brand, while the mill feed and finished feeds will be under the brand name “GamFeeds.”

Seaboard sees a number of strategic growth points in the Banjul facility.

“Initially, the facility will mill only wheat flour, but eventually we will add feed manufacturing as there is good op-portunity to develop a more formal feed input market, which right now is very unsophisticated,” Dannov said.

Gambia’s Trade Ministry put the na-tion’s 2012 flour imports at 65,000 tonnes. The mill has more than enough capacity to meet this demand.

“We expect the market to grow, par-ticularly with a local milling industry and other regional links,” Dannov said.

The flour mill will work with the busi-nesses that have been importing flour in Gambia. Those importers will be can-vassed to become distributors for the Banjul flour mill. The former importers will then sell the flour directly to baker-ies, hotels and their other customers.

“We intend to capture 100% of the market except for possibly some retail small pack at the very high end of the market,” Dannov said.

Rice and bread are the staples for carbohydrates in the typical Gambian diet. Dannov sees Gambia’s bakeries becoming more sophisticated as the in-dustry grows.

GMC Production Manager Alain Rajaonary, left, explaining to His Excellency President Jammeh the sifting process.



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Managementeveral years after launching a trial in which Chelsea Milling Co. explored a move beyond its deep retail roots, the company has embarked on a $35 million capital proj-

ect, the largest expansion in its 83-year history.In an interview with Milling & Baking News, sister publica-

tion of World Grain, Howard S. (Howdy) Holmes, president and chief executive officer, said the project will include the installation of several bulk ingredient silos, the construction of small buildings, the upgrade of its flour transfer systems and the addition of a new mixing department. The project is aimed at giving Chelsea access to the food service and insti-tutional markets.

At one level, Holmes said the project at Chelsea Milling should be viewed in the context of what he called “a long line of upgrades.” The Holmes family’s roots in milling date back to the 1800s, but it was in 1930 when Holmes’ grand-mother developed and launched the first prepared Jiffy mix product that has been a singular focus of Chelsea for decades.

The Jiffy line includes brownie mix, cake mixes, corn muffin mix, pie crust mix, frosting mixes, multi-purpose baking mixes and nine va-rieties of muffin mixes. While a unique vehicle for sustaining a mill-ing company, Holmes said it has been apparent for some time that growth prospects for the retail dry mix business are scant.

“We are 83 years in the retail busi-ness, and about 20 years ago it was clear the home baking market was not going to be a growth sector,” he said. “We had to think about how we

would sustain ourselves the next 100 years.” Strategic analy-sis undertaken during the 1990s suggested Chelsea should broaden its focus into non-retail channels for its mix. Holmes said effecting the change proved time consuming.

“Since we had been a focused manufacturer for so many years dedicated to retail, our systems and mentality were fo-cused,” Holmes said. “It took a number of years to plan out how we were going to penetrate the institutional and food ser-vice sectors. The steps we are taking now are the implementa-

tion and execution of that plan.”

Customers embraCe ChangeThe $35 million capital project fol-

lows by several years an initial trial effort launched with the November 2007 installation of a small heavily manual line for 50-pound bags.

“It was an experiment,” Holmes said. “We spent the next four to five years becoming a player in the in-stitutional market. In August, it was replaced by an automated bag line.”

Even as Chelsea Milling tiptoed from its retail niche toward the in-stitutional sector, customers “have not been tentative at all in their em-brace of the company,” Holmes said. Sales have grown quickly. While

S Chelsea milling in major move into institutional, food service markets

by Josh sosland

GrainMilling

and

FEATURE

Holmes


of dry mix per day for retail.Even though the food service and in-

stitutional markets are new to Chelsea, the competitive landscape is not, Holmes said.

“Mostly it’s the same group of com-petitors we face at retail,” he said.

From a macro perspective, Holmes said the non-retail market is impos-sible for Chelsea to ignore. He cited data estimating the overall retail food sector at $550 billion per year with an identical figure for institutional and food service combined.

ture required to accommodate its new customer base is considerable, Holmes said. For starters, Chelsea did not have equipment to pack 2.5-pound and 5-pound boxes or 25-pound bags for food service.

The company is upgrading its flour transfer system and is adding a mixing department dedicated to food service and institutional. The upgrade has sped the transfer rate to 35,000 pounds per hour from 10,000.

Longer term, but not right away, ad-ditional flour milling capacity may be

needed, Holmes said. He estimated current capacity at 4,700 cwts a day, which itself is a significant increase from the mill’s longtime daily capacity of 2,400 cwts.

“We may need it down the road, but it isn’t factored into the $35 million,” Holmes said. “As of now we will be able to meet future demand with current capacity. We need to get it out of the flour mill and into storage a lot quicker.”

Other elements of the project in-clude the installation of nine bulk silos for major ingredients, including flour, corn meal and dextrose, items that will be pneumatically transferred to the mixing department. A new building is under construction, and new mixers will be installed.

Labor cost savings from the modern-ization will be considerable, and Holmes said the timing of the project was deter-mined by a complicated array of factors, one of which was the demographics of the company’s workforce.

“That was a significant part of our thinking,” he said. “Currently, when you look at our employee profile we have a workforce of 306. Out of them, 163 are 50 years old or older. There have been and will be lots of retirements. Getting into food service and institutional, the timing was very much coordinated to minimize the effect on workers.”

The Chelsea workforce already has contracted from 360 over the course of a few years, simply because of attrition.

“We have made a conscious decision that we will not displace workers be-cause of technology,” he said. “We are sticking with that going forward. We’ve never laid anyone off. My father didn’t do it. My grandfather didn’t do it.”

He said the expansion project will largely be completed by spring 2014.

he cited a number of factors behind the early success, Chelsea’s positioning as a value supplier has been “welcomed with open arms,” he said. Similarly, a net-net pricing approach (avoiding promotions or discounts from inflated list prices) has been embraced by customers.

“It didn’t hurt that we have a well-known brand name,” Holmes said. “We were a little surprised by the degree we were able to penetrate that market. Delighted I might add.”

Over only a few years, institutional sales have grown to account for 28% of Chelsea volume at present, a figure that is growing, Holmes said. At present, the company is producing 1.6 million boxes

For the institutional market, Chelsea is selling mixes under the CMC brand name. Describing the market as “more of a commodity business” than retail or food service, Holmes said it is subject to sudden and abrupt price swings with changing costs.

“We didn’t want any negative reflec-tion on the brand in that environment,” he said. “That’s why we chose the CMC brand. The food service product will be sold under the Jiffy brand.”

new infrastructureWhile Chelsea is selling essentially

the same finished product into new business channels, the new infrastruc-

Josh Sosland is editor of Milling & Baking News, sister publication of World Grain. He can be

reached at [email protected].



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ccording to responses to a recent survey by World Grain of suppliers of equipment, services and facili-ties to the international fl our milling industry, demand

remains strong for new facilities along with updates to exist-ing facilities.

Demand is particularly strong in emerging markets and developing nations, and several responders have also seen growth in well established markets. The demand for new facilities is stronger in emerging and developing countries, while the projects in consolidated market countries tended, but were not exclusive to, the upgrading of existing facilities. Several of the suppliers’ customers were adding capacity and new mills to existing food processing complexes as part of a strategic plan to centralize company production and subse-quently increase cost effi ciencies.

The owners and operators of fl our milling facilities around the world continue to have the same set of essential demands

of their equipment. Customers expect post-installation service and training, equipment designed with sanitation in mind, effi -ciency, low energy, easy maintenance and long-term durability.

Several suppliers are themselves investing in increasing ca-pacity to meet growing demand for equipment and services. Suppliers are also investing heavily in research and develop-ment to ahead of the latest trends in food processing.

One supplier noted that, above all, machines and plants

A Annual survey of equipment manufacturers shows their products are especially in demand in developing nations

by Meyer Sosland

Construction activity strong in milling industry

FEATURE

(Above) OOO Saturn-1 recently built a 1,200-tonne-per-day � our mill in Nazran, Russia that will supply the caucasus. Photo courtesy of IMAS.


must comply with the anti-explosion CE/ATEX norms (also required by non-E.U. European countries) and Energy Saving policy.

The following are just a few of the major milling construction projects that have been completed recently.

New khartoum flour millIn 2012, El Hamama Flour Mills built

a new 600-tonne-per-day flour mill in Khartoum, Sudan. The greenfield proj-ect, which took nine months to com-plete, has four silos with a total storage capacity of 20,728 tonnes.

The seven-story mill produces three kinds flour and two kinds of bran.

which took eight months to complete, was finalized Dec. 2, 2012.

Kaz-Grain partnered with Corum, Turkey-based Alapala Makina to renovate the existing facility. Cost of the flour-milling equipment was €1,724,000.

Alapala said the flour-mill was equipped with every necessary piece of flour milling, cleaning, dampening, con-veying and packaging equipment. The flow of product through the sections of the flour mill and into storage is done au-

Corum, Turkey-based Uğur Makina was the contractor and supplier for the project.

Uğur said its equipment provides high performance, high capacity with low en-ergy consumption and is also easy to use and requires minimal maintenance.

updated mill to supply ceNtral asia

Kaz-Grain LLC recently updat-ed its flour mill located in Tokmok, Kyrgyzstan. The turn-key project,

Kaz-Grain updated its facility in Tokmok, Kyrgyzstan with equipment from Alapala Makina. Photo courtesy of Alapala.

El Hamama Flour Mills partnered with Ugur Makina to build this new mill in Khartoum, Sudan. Photo courtesy of Ugur.

FEATURE: construction activity strong in milling industry

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tomatically. The pipes through which the flour flows are made of stainless steel.

The flour mill sources its wheat from Kazakhstan. Three types of flour are produced in the flour mill. Also, it is possible to produce semolina up to 3%-5%. The primary markets/customers for these products are regional bakeries and other private sector entities.

FREE STATE FLOUR MILLOos Vrystaat Kaap Operations

Limited (OVK) recently built a 150-tonne-per-day wheat flour mill ad-jacent to their 40,000-tonne grain stor-age facility located in Clocolan, Free State province of South Africa.

The plant was designed and built by Satake Europe and its Southern African distributor Techmach Technology, and it was completed in May 2013. The turnkey contract included the process equipment, steel building, tempering

and finished product bins and the me-chanical and electrical installation.

The plant was designed to be installed in an existing warehouse. A steel frame building with cladding for the building was raised through the existing roof.

Space for an additional mill of identical capacity was included in the overall plan.

The wheat is cleaned on a Milling Separator and then passes to a Gravity Selector, which removes stones and grades the wheat into high and low den-sity streams. The low density streams are further processed through an in-dented cylinder for removal of small round impurities. A two-stage continu-ous wheat tempering system is used with automatic moisture control on first stage with a maximum tempering time of 30 hours.

The cleaned and tempered wheat is then processed on the Satake

Oos Vrystaat Kaap Operations Limited recently built this 150-tonne-per-day mill. Photo courtesy of Satake Europe.



“PeriTec” Debranning System at 6.25 tph using VTA15 abrasion and VBF10 friction machines.

The mill incorporates five breaks, one sizing and nine reduction passages.

The milling section features Satake SNR rollermills; two double high SNRD 1250 mm x 250, two SNR 1250 mm x 250 and two SNR 1000 mm x 250mm. The sifting system uses two SPSB828 Plansifters with “Interlock” food grade plastic sieves, two SBFB IncliTec Bran Finishers, eight SEDB037 In-line Flake Disruptors and one SPM Pin Mill.

The plant control system uses a “soft” PLC with 24-hour customer care support through a modem.

OVK’s plant primarily uses South African wheat to produce a wide range of flours including straight run flour, brown bread mix, flour divided to make top pat-ent (called cake flour in South Africa). All of the flour is bagged. Commercial and small bakeries purchase flour in 25 kg or 50 kg HPDE bags. Flour is also sold to re-tail outlets in 5 kg, 10 kg and 12.5 kg bags.

Finish oat millOy Karl Fazer Ab, one of Finland’s

largest diversified food corporations, re-cently added a greenfield oat mill next to its existing milling facility in Lahti, Finland. The mill processes 60 tonnes of raw oats per day.

The oat mill uses Finnish oats and produces mainly oat flakes, other oat-

related products and various types of other grain flakes. After storage the oats are cleaned and prepared with the most modern equipment. The mill section is compact and the capacity could be dou-bled with a few additional machines.

The Fazer Group contracted Uzwil, Switzerland-based Bühler to build and supply the oat mill. It took approximately 12 months to complete the project, which was finished in late May 2013. After stor-age, the oat is cleaned and prepared with the newest modern equipment.

burkina Faso’s second millMINOR recently built a 300-tonne-per-

day flour mill in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The project was commissioned in the nation’s capital in May 2013. The complete project took about 20 months, because MINOR needed about 14 months to complete its new concrete building.

MINOR was already operating a 200-tonne-per-day flour mill on the same site. The new mill was built on the same premises, but it is not attached to the existing building. The second mill is also the second commercial flour mill in Burkina Faso. MINOR built this second mill in order to meet the increasing de-mand in Burkina Faso.

Most of the mill’s flour is for French-style bread production, but low ash flour is also requested. Depending on wheat quality, the extraction rate rang-

es up to 80%. MINOR sells the bran on the market for feed processing.

One of the main challenges for the company is to organize a constant wheat supply via the closest harbor, which is about one week away by truck or by train. MINOR imports all of its wheat from Europe or the United States.

The facility has three 3,500-tonne-capacity silos for storing grain, and MINOR is also renting about 10,000 tonnes of storage in the port city of Lomé, Togo. This is an important in-vestment for a business operating in a landlocked nation.

MINOR contracted Uzwil, Switzerland-based Bühler Group to supply top-of-the-line equipment to its new mill. The €6 million project includes a truck intake system, pre-cleaning, transfer with MSDT scales and a capacity of 100 tph, three 3,500-tonne-capacity, 25-meter corrugat-ed steel storage silos, finished product si-los for about three to four days of storage, and a high capacity carousel packer.

The cleaning equipment includes all of Bühler’s latest technology including Sortex Z+, MYFC automatic moisture controller and MOZL intensive damp-ener. The flour mill is equipped with the latest MDDR/T rollstands, MPAK high-capacity Plansifter with Novapur sieves and MQRG newest purifier.

MINOR wanted the latest Bühler technology with a maximum of hy-

MINOR completed construction on the second flour mill in Burkina Faso in May 2013. Photo courtesy of Bühler.

Jarkko Arrajoki, Oy Karl Fazer’s supply chain di-rector, inspects the company’s 60-tonne-per-day Oatmill. Photo courtesy of Bühler.



giene, lots of flexibility and minimum power consumption. In addition, the lat-est installed WinCos control system was installed to ensure smooth operation. Bühler said that with the help of the new WinCare maintenance tool, proactive maintenance is guaranteed.

supplying vietnam’s growing market

Tien Hung JSC recently commis-sioned a new 200-tonne-per-day flour mill in Haiphong, Vietnam. The proj-ect’s construction phase took five months and was completed in May 2013. The facility has a grain storage capacity of 9,000 tonnes.

Tien Hung sources wheat from Australia and the U.S. The flour mill has an extrac-tion rate of 75% and produces normal bread and noodle flour, cake flour and semolina. Its co-products include inferior flour and bran. All of the flour mill’s prod-ucts are in the domestic market through various channels.

Tien Hung contracted China-based Hebei Pingle Flour Machinery Group Co. to build and supply the $1.2 million flour milling facility project.

Hebei Pingle supplied the milling systems including the pneumatic roller mills and plansifters. The flow of the mill includes a grain cleaning section with sieve, wheat scourer, destoner, sieve, tempering mixer and dampening silo.

The milling section features four break systems, six reduction systems, one

scratch system and one tailing system. The milling section is equipped with smooth roller and impact detacher, which will protect the quality of the flour.

new mill to supply caucasus region

OOO Saturn-1 recently built a 1,200-tonne-per-day greenfield flour mill in Nazran, Russia. The project took five months to complete and was com-missioned in April 2013.

IMAS was contracted to build and sup-ply the six-story mill, which was built at a cost of €12 million. It has 40,000 tonnes of storage. The facility was built with room to expand. In each line, there are 24 single-deck Millennium roller mills and

six double deck Millennium roller mills, eight quadro plansifters and six purifiers. The intake and pre-cleaning section has a capacity of 100 tph, while the cleaning section has a capacity of 30 tph. The flour packing is made by a carrousel.

IMAS noted that this mill is highly automated and energy efficient with au-tomatic dampeners, scales, soft starters for pneumatic motors, automatic stops for silo conveyors and full automation.

The mill sources wheat from Russia and Kazakhstan, and the primary markets for flour are Russia, Georgia and Armenia.




Tien Hung JSC collaborated with Hebei Pingle to build its new 200-tonne-per-day flour mill in Haiphong, Vietnam. Photo courtesy of Hebei Pingle.

FEATURE: conStruction activity Strong in milling induStry


Post-production flour treatmentsSteps can be taken after the milling process to ensure a safe, reliable and consistent productby Mark Fowler

MILLINGOPERATIONS

Delivery of a product with the right quality characteristics to the customer is the goal of every business. For the flour milling industry, the process of delivering a safe, reliable and consistent product does not end in the flour mill. There are several post-production treatments that modify and improve the performance of the flour for specific applications.

BLeNdINGFirst of all, as I have mentioned in several of my past articles,

blending is the best, most efficient and most important post-production process. Before any other of the post-production processes, the flour should be properly blended to maximize the consistency of the product. Delivery of a homogeneous blend of flour for further processing is vital to delivering flour with repeatable characteristics. Consistency will always be the flour quality characteristic most valued by the customer.

The two primary methods of blending flour are continuous blending and batch blending. Continuous blending is the least expensive option. The accuracy of a continuous blending sys-tem depends on the accuracy of the bin dischargers and the absence of product chokes in the system. Batch blending is the better option for blending of mixes with several components where more precise measurement of ingredients is required.

AddItIveSThe most common post-production treatment is the addition

of micronutrients and dough improvers. The practice of forti-fying bread flour has been a requirement in the United States for several decades. With the lobbying efforts of organizations such as the Flour Fortification Initiative and the Micronutri-ent Initiative, the health benefits of adding basic vitamins and minerals to flour has been implemented in more than 78 coun-tries across the globe. The combination of vitamins and min-erals added to flour varies widely. The U.S. standard includes: niacin, riboflavin, thiamin, folic acid and iron. Requirements in other countries may include vitamin A and zinc.

The precise blend of nutrients which are required is not im-

portant. Nutritional needs and deficiencies vary from country to country. The importance of the addition of nutrients is the recog-nition that flour is an inexpensive method of correcting or pre-venting a nutrition deficiency to make a healthier population.

The incorporation of enzymes and other flour performance additives is a common practice to modify and improve the functionality of the flour to make a variety of products. From biscuits and crackers to any type of bread production, addi-tives can improve the profitability of mills and bakeries and help to deliver a better product to the consumer. Enzymes are natural substances composed of amino acids. They act as cata-lysts to modify carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Enzymes can be plant-based such as malted barley or sprouted wheat flour. They also can be fungal or bacterial-based products.

The types of enzymes are as diverse as their function and applications. For example, some enzymes weaken flour glu-ten, while others strengthen the gluten. They may help to hy-drolyze cellulosic material or break down carbohydrates to create sugar to feed yeast or aid in crust color and bread flavor. Other additives such as ascorbic acid can work as an oxidiz-ing or a reducing agent in dough development depending on addition rate and dough forming process. The use of flour ad-ditives and improvers increases the consistency of the final product by adjusting flour performance as the wheat quality may change from region to region and year to year.

ChLorINAtIoN The practice of flour chlorinating is limited to cake flour

used for high-ratio cakes. The mixing of chlorine gas with flour lowers the pH due to the formation of hydrochloric acid. Chlorination of cake flour helps to increase cake volume while improving grain and texture. It increases the ability of flour to carry higher levels of sugar and shortening, allowing high-ratio formulas preferred in some markets.

Flour chlorination requires aggressive agitators as the flour particles must be suspended in the gas to absorb it evenly. The agitators must be properly designed to provide adequate

GRAINS ARE HAPPY IN YOUR CASTLE



retention time to mix the gas and flour to achieve the target flour pH, typically between 4.4 and 4.8.

The danger with chlorine treatment is that chlorine gas is hazardous and harm-ful if employees are overexposed. Mild exposure may cause respiratory irrita-tion such as coughing or lung conges-tion as well as irritation to the eyes, nose and throat. Overexposure can cause chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

HydrationMoisture control is one of the most

important factors in milling. All mills add water to condition the wheat prior to milling to maximize extraction and opti-mize the consistency of the flour. How-ever, due to fluctuations in the mill tem-perature and humidity, the amount of moisture loss during the milling process is difficult to estimate and control. For this reason, it is becoming common for

mills to hydrate the flour near the end of the process. A flour hydration system can increase the moisture content of fin-ished flour up to 1.5% to optimize flour moisture to the customer.

Flour hydration can help maximize flour extraction as well. The practice of setting the target conditioned wheat moisture to meet the finished flour moisture required by the customer can mean a compromise on extraction. De-pending upon the mill flow, mill en-vironment and type of wheat, the op-timal wheat moisture for milling may be lower than the required moisture to meet customer requirements.

Hydrating the flour after milling al-lows the mill to determine the optimal wheat moisture to maximize flour qual-ity and extraction, and then adjust the finished flour moisture to meet custom-er requirements. This allows maximum milling efficiency and optimal finished

flour moisture and consistency.Several companies offer flour hydration

systems. The fundamental components of a system are similar and include an inten-sive mixer, atomized water addition using compressed air and precision control of the water mist added to the flour. Systems are preferably installed after the flour col-lection conveyor in the mill.

The mixing of flour and water will create a portion of flour balls. For this reason, the scalped product from the mill rebolt sifter should be sent back to a designated mill stream to break up the flour balls and flour recovery. Adequate aspiration of the hydration system and the spouting before and after the mixer is important to prevent microbial growth and flour contamination.

Heat treatmentFlour heat treatment (FHT) is simply

the exposure of flour to a heat source.

millingoperationS

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around the world with competence and commitment.They are supported by the applications technolo-gists from our Technology Centre in Ahrensburg, nearHamburg, and in our production facilities worldwide.We are glad to be able to make a substantial con-tribution to improving the international nutritionsituation in this way, and we wish to thank our customers and partners.

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However, the process of heat treatment is anything but simple. There are two separate but related objectives for the heat treatment of flour. The first objec-tive is, traditionally, the modification of the functional properties of flour for spe-cial applications. The more recent and increasingly popular objective is the log reduction of microbial contamination.

Multiple studies have demonstrated significant reduction of microbial con-tamination in heat-treated flours. One major milling company in the U.S. markets heat-treated flour with a 5-log reduction in the microbial count with no impact to the flour color, taste and protein functionality. The impact to the functional proteins is the great-est concern with the application of a heat treatment process for purpose of food safety. Heating flour above 130 degrees F will result in a change in flour performance.

Applying a FHT process can be use-ful to deliver and enhance the perfor-mance of flour for a wide variety of products. The two primary methods of heat treatment are thermal and hydro-thermal. As the name implies, a hydro-thermal FHT process is the treatment of flour by heat and moisture in the form of water or steam. Hydrothermal treat-ment processes have a greater impact on flour functionality. It is used for batter coatings as it enhances the viscosity of flour improving the ability of batters to adhere to food. It also expands the appli-cation of wheat flour used as thickeners for soups and sauces.

The thermal FHT process is the treat-ment of flour by heat only at a specific temperature and time. In most cases, re-hydration of the flour is required after thermal treatment to recover moisture content. Thermal treatment is less likely to impact flour functionality as com-

pared to hydrothermal treatment, but can be used to modify functionality if that is the desired objective.

In summary, the production of qual-ity flour is not limited to the milling process. There are several post-pro-duction processes that can be used to modify and improve the quality charac-teristics, create flour characteristics for specific applications and improve prod-uct safety. Post treatment processes re-quire additional capital investment and greater quality control. The benefits include improved customer service and mill profitability.

millingoperationS

Mark Fowler is associate director of the international Grains program at Kansas State

University. He may be reached at [email protected].



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Latesthe global milling industry, and equipment manufactur-ers and service providers who support it, are continually searching to find better methods to process wheat into

flour and other byproducts.The Product Showcase program at the 2013 International

Association of Operative Millers (IAOM) Conference & Expo in Niagara Falls, Canada featured some of the most re-cent technological advances in the industry. Five new prod-ucts were unveiled during the showcase, offering break-throughs in milling efficiency, safety and quality control.

Here is a look at the products and services that were dis-cussed during the showcase.

Online PSMBühler AG, Uzwil, Switzerland, gave a presentation at the

IAOM expo on its online PSM (particle size measurement), which provides real-time granulation measurement during the milling process. It combines laser diffraction and image pro-cessing in one system.

Whether in the various grinding passages of a flour mill or in monitoring the ma-terial being ground on a hammermill, having

precise knowledge of the particle size distribution is crucial

for the quality and consistency of the end product.

Bühler said Online PSM is the ideal tool for continuous monitoring of the particle

size distribution in flour and/or semolina.The measurement system is suitable for

continuous granulation measurement in the range of 10 to 5,000 microns. Online PSM combines laser diffraction, image processing and sampling in a system capable of determining the particle size distribution of the material being ground in the ongoing process.

It also guarantees a consistent and reproducible particle size distribution. It monitors the granulation distribution and alerts in case of granulation shifting/deviation.

Both the current particle size distribution and the granula-tion profile over a certain period of time are shown in the user software. Freely selectable warning thresholds support users in complying with tolerances.

APR-1600 RObOtic PAlletizeRPremier Tech Chronos, Rivière-du-Loup, Québec, Canada,

debuted its APR-1600 Robotic Palletizer, a hybrid which in-cludes features for a conventional palletizer while using a ro-bot. It is designed to handle 25- to 110-pound bags.

The APR-1600 includes the following features:• Motor-driven perimeter squaring of each layer.• Ability to overlap bags, assuring no bags overhang the pallet.• Modular pre-wired construction, which makes

Tnew products unveiled during iAOM conference’s Product Showcase

millingtechnologyby Arvin Donley

FEATURE


type of flatbed truck, tanker truck or vessel. It is available in numerous sizes to handle a wide range of capac-ity requirements. The Moduflex is built with a mod-ular construction for easy compo-nent replacement and has numerous op-tions to meet customer-specific needs.

The Moduflex loading chutes can be manufactured in a more sturdy con-struction for ship unloading, stockpil-ing and warehousing, depending on customer requirements for heavy duty performance, long-term durability and high capacities.

The chutes can be delivered with an integrated fully self-contained filter system, or for connection to an exter-nal filter bag station. Furthermore, the basic product range is complemented by a vast variety of accessories, which makes it possible to deliver dust-free loading chutes, taking specific cus-tomer requirements into account. A unique modular construction ensures flexibility and enables modification and repair with a minimum of down-time, and all the loading chutes are well-documented and thoroughly test-ed before shipment.

The capacity ranges from 150 to 700 cubic meters per hour for the standard chutes and 250 to 2,800 cubic meters per hour for the ship loading chutes, and in length ranging from 1 to 30 meters.

The loading chutes are naturally de-signed according to valid norms and regulations, and delivered with manda-tory documentation. Furthermore, the chutes can be delivered in a food grade version, and in full compliance with the ATEX-directive and other explosion-proof configurations.

installation quick and easy.• Small footprint to fit into tight spaces.• The availability of many differ-

ent layouts to match the customer’s requirements.

• Use of a robot, which minimizes assemblies to maintain.

Optimized Cereal dampenerGermany-based vibronet presented

information on the company’s remod-eled cereal dampener, which was grant-ed a new patent in 2012. The machine treats grain up to 40 tph at a reduced height. The automatic water dosage and throughput control system are built-in at no extra space.

Clean design and optimized vibra-tion force allow up to 12% water addi-tion in one pass. Its integrated back-up control saves cost and increases safety, vibronet said. The company noted that the Siemens touch control allows easy inspection and maintenance together with Ethernet and Profibus connectivity.

The vibronet vibration dampener is a continuous vertical cereal dampening system that drastically reduces cereal temper time and keeps energy costs to an absolute minimum. The system of-fers energy-efficient preparation with any kind of water soluble liquid.

According to vibronet, some of the advantages of this system include:

• Water penetration through the entire kernel surface and into the kernel crease.

• Up to 1.6% more white flour with low mineral content.

• Optimum soft wheat temper times of approximately 4 hours.

• Optimum hard wheat temper times of approximately 6 to 9 hours.

• Energy savings due to only 0.2 kW/tonne/hour consumption.

• Investment savings due to less tem-per bins and transport elements.

• Less bacterial growth due to mini-mal temper time and vertical clean design.

• Minimum maintenance and ex-tremely low wear.

in-line Grain analyzer

FOSS, Hillerod, Denmark, gave a demonstration on its ProFOSS In-Line Grain and Flour Analyzer, which is used to optimize and monitor the wheat blending process. The instru-ment detects real time and display process changes to the moisture and protein of wheat. Millers may use the information to ensure consistent wheat blends time after time.

The Analyzer features a Near Infrared (NIR) process analysis sys-tem that provides nondestructive anal-ysis of products such as grains, flour and feed directly in the process line without bypass.

FOSS said the Analyzer helps opti-mize the use of raw materials and con-sistently run production closer to target specifications and is robust enough to withstand tough production environ-ments and give instant results for opti-mized production and profitability.

It is available for analysis of moisture and protein in the incoming materials,

mOduflexCimbria/Bratney, Des Moines,

Iowa, U.S., gave a presentation on its Moduflex, which is a dust-proof means of loading grain, flour or midds into any



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Continuous proportioning/mixing systemsMills can use these systems to formulate and mix their entire variety of productsby Fred Fairchild

FeedoperationS

In a previous article that ran in the July 2013 issue of World Grain, I examined the design of batching systems in which each ingredient is weighed into a common scale hopper. A continu-ous proportioning system is one in which each ingredient is weighed individually, but simultaneously with all other ingredi-ents. Although these systems are normally used to continuously blend ingredients for special applications such as the addition of high percentages of liquid such as molasses, they may also be used to formulate and mix a mill’s entire variety of prod-ucts. Another place continuous systems may be used is when it is desirable to add an ingredient just prior to bagging or bulk shipment to avoid damaging the product or having to store it to avoid having to pass through the system.

A diagram of a type of batching system is shown in Figure 1 (below). Each ingredient bin has some type of feeding device on its outlet. Each feeding device is powered by a variable speed drive so that its rate of delivery may be adjusted for the amount of that ingredient needed in a given formulation. All of the ingredients required in a given formulation are added simultaneously in to a collecting conveyor. This conveyor ei-ther delivers the mixture to an in-line blender or the conveyor

itself may be a screw conveyor equipped with flighting that mixes the ingredients as they are conveyed.

Blending rates for a continuous system can range over a large spectrum depending on the production requirements, ac-curacy required, the inclusion rates for ingredients and capac-ity of the equipment used for the system. The systems of today are controlled by computer systems in which each ingredient and its rate of addition is set depending on the number of in-gredients and the production rate required.

In older systems, the rate of addition for each ingredient was controlled by volumetric addition. Each ingredient bin had a screw feeder, belt feeder or vane feeder in which the speed was set by adjusting a mechanical speed range device. Later, these feeder rates were controlled by variable fre-quency drives which allowed the feeder motor speed to be varied. The drawback to these types of feeders is that they delivered product by volume and required regular weigh-ups of each ingredient to make sure it was being added in the cor-rect amount. For each ingredient feeder, the designated rate was compared to the actual rate being delivered. This pro-cedure was repeated 2-3 times for each speed setting. Using this information, charts were developed to determine the ac-tual feeder speed setting required for the addition rate needed for an ingredient’s proper addition rate in each formulation. When these tests were made, the density of the product was always checked to determine the related pounds of the product

ingredient % Lbs/ton Lbs/Hr Lbs/min

Ground Corn 65 1300 78000 1300

Soybean Meal 15 300 18000 300

Wheat Middlings 7 140 8400 140

Bakery By-products 3 60 3600 60

Meat & Bone Meal 3 60 3600 60

Limestone 4 80 4800 80

phosphate 0.5 10 600 10

Salt 0.5 10 600 10

Liquid tallow 2 40 2400 40

totals 100 2000 120000 2000

Fig 1.

Table 1.

MF2

2565

-031

3

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being dispensed through the feeder at a specific setting. The accuracy of the systems using volumetric feeders was always at risk. Even though the weigh-up tests were taken for each feeder, any deviation or change in the density of the product or its flow rate into the feeder could not be measured and this resulted in variations in the amount being added to a blend.

When designing a continuous system today, accurate equip-ment and methods for weighing the feed rate for each ingredi-ent are available.

Each ingredient bin or hopper still requires some type of controllable volumetric feeder, but the ingredient is weighed on stream to determine if the feeder is operating at the proper delivery rate. Feeding this rate back to the computer control-ling the system allows for almost instantaneous adjustments to the feeder delivery rate of each feeder operating to keep each ingredient addition in the proper ratio.

The types of equipment used to weigh on-line include dry and liquid mass flow meters, weigh belts and conveyors, and loss-in-weight systems.

Flow Rate ContRolsThe most accurate device for measuring flow rates of both

dry and liquid ingredients is the mass-flow meter which op-

erates on the coriollis principal and measures the actual mass of the ingredient passing through it. Mass flow meters for measuring liquid flow have been available for many years. Mass flow meters for measuring dry ingredient flow rates have become available in recent years. Since these metering devices sense and measure mass only, they are not affected by changes in density or ingredient flow rate, but actually sense these changes and allow the computer to adjust feed rates accordingly. The mass flow meters require some type

FeedoperationS

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Fig 2. the internal part of a centr-flow dry ingredient flow meter


of flow control device that can be adjusted to disperse the proper amount of each ingredient on a continuous basis. This is normally a screw or vane feeder with adjustable speed drives.

Weigh-belt feeders weigh the ingredient as it passes over a weighbridge that indicates the rate at which the ingredient is being dis-pensed. It is mounted under the bin out-let if it is used as both a feeder and a weighing device.

A loss-in-weight system is shown in Figure 3 (upper right). In this system, the ingredient bin and the feeder from the bin is supported on load cells. As the ingredient in the bin is metered from the bin through the feeder, the rate of weight loss in the bin equals the rate at which the ingredient is be-ing added into the continuous blend-ing system.

Sample ContinuouS SyStem DeSign

Using the same formula used in previous articles, we will determine the feeder rates needed for a continuous system to de-liver 48 tonnes per hour. The formula and dispens-ing rates are shown in Table 1 (page 70). The required batching rate is based on using an 80% efficiency factor, therefore the design capacity needs to be 60 tonnes per hour (tph) (48 tph/.80 = 60 tph).

Formulations are based on the amount of each ingredient required based on its nutritional strength. This strength is converted into the amount needed to give the proper strength in each formulation. This is indicated by the amount of each ingredient required in pounds as a percentage of the to-tal formula. This percentage is then added in units of pounds required in a given formulation.

Fred Fairchild is a professor emeritus in the Department of Grain Science and Industry at Kansas State University. Prior to coming to

Kansas State in 1994, he worked in the industry designing, constructing and commissioning

numerous mill facilities. He is a licensed professional engineer. He can be reached by

e-mail at [email protected].

In the sample formula, the ground corn, soybean meal and wheat middlings use larger feeders to de-liver the needed pounds per minute of these ingre-dients while the rest of the ingredients are fed in by smaller feeders. In a con-tinuous system, all feeder rates must be adjustable to add the proper percentage

of each ingredient into the collecting conveyor depending on the ingredient and amount required in each formula-tion. All of the feeders are connected to a master computer that adjusts indi-vidual feeder rates (speeds) to keep the application rates of each ingredient in proper proportion (percentage of for-mula) for all the ingredients.

Continuous systems with liquid ad-dition require some type of mixing device to add the liquid. These sys-

tems are used when the amount of liquid to be added exceeds the limit desirable in a batching system such as a high mo-lasses dairy feed. Once all of the dry ingredients are well blended, the amount of liquid(s) is then added on a continuous basis and the dry and liquid ingredi-ents are mixed together in a continuous blender using a mass-flow liquid meter, Figure 4 (left), to add the

liquid at the proper rate. Different types of mixers and blenders will be discussed in a future article in World Grain.



Fig 3.

Fig 4.

feeDoPeratIonS


CentralCentralCentralAsianAsianbreadbasket

rom the Siberian steppes of Kazakhstan in the north to the mountain valleys of Afghanistan in the south, wheat is by far the most important cereal grown and consumed in Central Asia.

The six countries of the region have a combined output ranging from 30 to 35 million tonnes in most years. Kazakhstan may account for anywhere from one-half to two-thirds of wheat produced in these countries, depending on the amount of rain received on its vast dryland farms.

Four of the other “stans” — Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan — all to a varying extent depend on Kazakhstan to provide wheat and wheat fl our

FCentral Asian nations have a combined annual wheat output ranging from 25-30 million tonnes

by David McKee

FEATURE

The unused concrete grain elevator in Puli Khumri, northern Afghanistan is one of � ve built in the coun-try by the Soviet Union during the 1980s. It is typical of those throughout Central Asian countries. Photo courtesy of David McKee.



to cover part of their consumption. Only Turkmenistan, one of the world’s most closed societies, in recent years has achieved self-sufficiency in wheat.

Until 1990, when the Soviet Union broke up, all of their economies (except Afghanistan) had been unified under a central economic plan with all wheat production and processing under state control. Since then, each of the five for-mer Soviet republics has pursued sepa-rate economic models.

However, trade in wheat and wheat flour remains one of the major economic link-ages among the nations of Central Asia.

KazaKhstanDryland wheat yields are low, averag-

ing about one tonne per hectare, and can vary hugely from year to year according to rainfall and soil moisture. The harvest fell from a record 22.7 million tonnes in 2011 to just 9.8 million tonnes in the following

FEATURE: central asian breadbasket

KYRGYZSTAN

TAJIKISTAN

QATARBAHRAIN

U. A. E.

OMAN

IRAN

SAUDI ARABIA

RUSSIA

AFGHANISTAN PAKISTAN INDIA

CHINA

KAZAKHSTAN

TURKMENISTAN

UZBEKISTAN

NEPAL

BANGLADESH

MONGOLIA

BHUTAN

A r a b i a n S e a B a yo f

B e n g a l

Aral Sea

Gulf of Oman

Persian Gulf

FLIGHTING TECHNOLOGY


drought year, per U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data. The chairman of KazAgro Holding’s management board has pre-dicted a recovery to about 15 million tonnes in 2013.

Domestic use runs around 5 million tonnes, so even when yields plummet there is still surplus wheat for export to other countries of the region.

Given the logistical difficulties of export over long dis-tances by rail, Kazakhstan typically carries over to the next year over one-third of a bumper harvest. Following the record harvest of 2011, wheat stock levels reached an unprecedented 17 million tonnes. The government grain agency stepped in to buy several million tonnes from farmers that year.

Kazakhstan’s wheat can be delivered competitively to Black Sea and Baltic Sea ports, usually only when its crop is larger than average and world wheat prices are high due to shortfall in production among the traditional major exporters.

In 2011-12, when exports reached about 11.4 million tonnes, about half were to countries outside of the Central Asian region. The following year exports dropped to about half of that, and nearly all went to other Central Asia countries and to Azerbaijan on the opposite shore of Caspian Sea, as well as to Russia in difficult to monitor cross-border trade.

All told, other Central Asian countries including Afghanistan now buy the equivalent of about 5 million tonnes of Kazakhstan wheat and wheat flour annually.

Thanks to steady demand from nearby countries, but mainly Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan had been the world’s top wheat flour exporter for a number of years running, with exports reaching 3.65 million tonnes in wheat equivalent in 2011-12, according to the International Grains Council (IGC). Shipments dropped the following drought year to a level below Turkey but a re-covery to 3 million tonnes is projected by the IGC in 2013-14, enough to regain the top position.

Proximity, an excellent railroad network, large efficient mills, low prices for high quality wheat, and supportive government polices are all factors in the ability of its milling industry to domi-nate wheat flour markets in the other countries of the region.

There are currently about 350 wheat milling enterprises in Kazakhstan according to Evgeny Gan, longtime president of the Kazakhstan League of Grain Processors and Bakers, an industry association. The trend has been toward investment in larger plants and closure of smaller mills to the point where about 200 of these are above 150 tonnes per day capacity and only 50 have a capacity of less than 50 tonnes per day.

UzbekistanUzbekistan’s wheat production of 6.2 million tonnes de-

pends 80% on irrigation from the rivers flowing westwards out of the Tianshan Mountains, which are nearly sucked dry before reaching the shrunken Aral Sea. Planted areas and yields are predictable from year to year thanks to adequate water and heavy state planning.

Paradoxically, though the country is nominally self-sufficient in

FEATURE: central asian breadbasket FEATURE: central asian breadbasket


wheat, its imports from Kazakhstan have steadily climbed to 1.4 million tonnes of wheat flour, the largest flow of this com-modity between any two countries.

Among the reasons for the increase may be the increasing exports of lower quality Uzbek wheat and flour, as well as greater re-exports of imported Kazakh flour, mainly to Afghanistan.

Consumers in the nation’s capital, Tashkent, and other large cities demand “naan” bread made from the higher pro-tein rain-fed wheat of Kazakhstan for reasons of taste and texture.

It is estimated that only 62% of the wheat grown in Uzbekistan is used do-mestically for food. The remainder goes for livestock feed or is exported at low prices to neighboring countries.

Though it has been nearly a quarter century since achieving independence, Uzbekistan has retained the Soviet mod-el of state ownership for large parts of

its economy. Farmland is privately held, but government planners still dictate the amount of wheat (and cotton) to be sown, the prices of inputs and how much the state will pay for wheat at harvest.

The bulk of the wheat surplus is pur-chased by a single government grain storage, flour and feed milling entity called Uzdonmahsolut, which means “Uzbekistan Grain Products.”

It controls 40 to 50 feed and flour milling enterprises most of which in-corporate monolithic concrete grain elevators dating from the Soviet era. Uzdonmahsolut’s annual planned wheat flour output is about 1.5 million tonnes.

All exports of surplus wheat and wheat flour are restricted to the govern-ment monopoly, but no data is published about prices, volumes and destinations of shipments outside Uzbekistan. Such grain trade data is officially treated as a state secret, one of few countries that is

so lacking in transparency. Despite heavy government controls

in the sector, dozens of private mill-ing companies have started up in the last several years as the share of wheat ground on a tolling basis in tiny village mills has declined, replaced by commer-cially produced flour.

TurkmenisTanThis former Soviet Republic of just 10

million people has remained the truest to the model of state ownership of the economy since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Total wheat production, all from irrigated lands that formerly grew cot-ton, is expected to increase by one-third from 1.2 million tonnes in 2012 to 1.6 million tonnes this year, according to of-ficial government proclamations.

Abundant state revenues from exports of natural gas have permitted large-scale investment in the entire wheat value



chain from modern tractors and com-bine harvesters to state-of-the-art mill-ing and pasta plants.

The country reports exportation of 300,000 tonnes in 2012 of carryover wheat from the previous year. Most of it went across its southern border to either Iran or Afghanistan.

AfghAnistAnIn contrast to its neighbors to the

north, Afghanistan has achieved a high level of wheat-based food security through unregulated agriculture, a large network of small, adroit traders who import flour and cash inflows from the outflow of illegal drugs.

Wheat consumption, which accounts for over 60% of total caloric intake, has reached about 6 million tonnes per year, with domestic production about 4.15 million tonnes last year and forecast by USDA to be down slightly for 2013-14.

Production is balanced between rain-fed fields on the one hand and snowmelt irrigation on the other, and is also split between winter and spring-planted crops.

Kazakhstan’s aggressive milling in-dustry has supplanted Pakistan in the last decade as the main supplier of wheat flour. Afghanistan’s wheat flour imports from Kazakhstan reached 1 million tonnes in 2011-12 before falling off to 700,000 tonnes the following year when the crop came up short and Pakistan re-gained some of its position as a wheat flour supplier. Uzbekistan’s low cost, low quality wheat flour accounted for another 250,000 tonnes per USDA data.

Other sources of wheat include offi-cial food aid donated by India and dis-tributed by the United Nations World Food Program.

Most wheat flour shipments from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan move ef-ficiently by rail, crossing a bridge at the border at Termez, Uzbekistan to the rail terminus inside Afghanistan on the river bank and near the city of Mazar-e-Sharif. From there it is less than one day’s truck journey to the Afghan capital, Kabul and most other large cities in the country.

About 90% of Afghanistan’s domesti-

cally grown wheat is milled for farmers and others in small village mills, grind-ing just 1 to 4 tonnes per day on a pay-for-service basis.

There has been investment in about 12 commercial mills with capacity rang-ing from 80 to 500 tonnes per day. These are often shut down due to lack of wheat supply, electricity or other factors.

During the Soviet occupation of the 1980s, there were five large milling and baking complexes with concrete elevators built, averaging 50,000 tonnes storage capacity, similar to what exists throughout Russia and Central Asia.

Recently the Afghan government has taken steps to create a strategic grain reserve and has begun to reuse some of


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these complexes, though the milling and baking sections have remained unused except for the one in Kabul.

TajikisTanThe small amounts of arable land in

the most mountainous of Central Asian nations allow for 800,000 to 1 million tonnes of annual wheat production.

Tajikistan is usually the second or third-largest market for Kazakhstan wheat flour, with imports having reached a peak of about 460,000 tonnes in 2007 and 2008 but dropping off since then to just 240,000 tonnes in 2012. The country’s millers that year used 720,000 tonnes of imported wheat as the trend has been for declining wheat flour im-ports and increasing wheat imports as the domestic milling industry expands.

kyrgyzsTanLike Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan is mostly

mountainous. Its agriculture is fo-cused on livestock production, mainly sheep and cattle. Potato ton-nage exceeds wheat production that amounts to about 800,000 tonnes in most years.

Wheat is irrigated in the portions of the country’s southern region in the Fergana Valley that is shared with Uzbekistan.

The wheat value chain is entirely in private hands in line with the country’s free market economic policies.

Millers in the capital city of Bishkek rely partly on wheat deliveries from Kazakhstan, which are in the range of 450,000 tonnes per year for the country. The industry has been successful in get-ting its government to protect it via duties on wheat flour imports, though this usu-ally results in large in-flows of contra-band flour. Flour imports are only about 110,000 tonnes.

summaryThough isolated from the rest of the

global grain trade by thousands of ki-lometers to ocean ports, the economi-cally and politically diverse, landlocked (Uzbekistan is double landlocked) na-tions of Central Asia comprise a dy-namic wheat production, processing and trading community that continues to evolve with greater investment from governments and private enterprise.

Kazakhstan’s government is now pursuing policy measures to increase livestock production through reduced plantings of wheat in favor of feed grains. Nevertheless, the country will continue to supply its neighbors while holding large buffer stocks of wheat that can be released on world markets when prices spike.



FEATURE: central aSian breadbaSket

84 September 2013 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com 84 September 2013 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com

013 has been a busy year for Richardson International Limited. Not only is the company celebrating the 100th anniversary of Richardson Pioneer, its grain and crop

inputs business, it completed the largest acquisition in its his-tory by acquiring a signifi cant number of former Viterra grain, crop inputs and milling assets from Glencore, making it the largest Canadian agribusiness company.

There were times when it seemed that a privately-owned fi rm such as Richardson had little to no chance of becoming the top gun in the grain business. But the landscape changed with the implosion of the farmer-owned co-operatives and, fi -nally, the sale of Viterra (formerly the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool) to Swiss-owned Glencore International PLC.

At the same time, changes were occurring at the Canadian Wheat Board as Ottawa stripped the powerful grain marketing agency of its monopolistic powers in favor of an open market

— a move that pleased many Western Canadian farmers as well as Canada’s trading partners worldwide, most of which were opposed to “single desk selling.”

Glencore’s purchase of Viterra and accompanying agreement with Richardson for the sale of selected Viterra assets brought

2Company is celebrating the 100th anniversary of Richardson Pioneer and completion of the largest acquisition in its history

by Leo Quigley

Richardson InternationalRichardson Richardson Milestone year for


FEATURE

www.World-Grain.com / World Grain / September 2013 85www.World-Grain.com / World Grain / September 2013 85

the federal government and Canadian Competition Bureau onto the scene to ensure the purchase by a foreign multina-tional was a net benefi t to Canada and did not give one player an unfair competitive advantage in the West.

The deal between Glencore and Richardson resulted in Richardson’s acquisition of 19 Viterra grain handling facilities and 13 crop input centers, pri-marily in areas where Richardson did not have a strong presence previously, growing its network of Richardson Pioneer grain elevators and crop inputs centers across Western Canada.

Richardson also acquired an export terminal in Thunder Bay, a 25% owner-ship share of the Caascadia terminal in Vancouver and Viterra’s oats processing and wheat milling business.

With Richardson’s Eastern Canadian business, which sources grain from pro-

ducers for delivery to its facilities in Hamilton, Ontario and Sorel, Quebec as a result of the Glencore deal Richardson is now the largest handler of Canadian grain.

Richardson has also ventured into new territory through the acquisition of Viterra’s milling business. This includes three oat processing facilities in Canada — in Barrhead, Alberta; Martensville, Saskatchewan; and Portage la Prairie, Manitoba — and two milling plants in the U.S. — an oats processing plant in South Sioux City, Nebraska and a wheat milling plant in Dawn, Texas.

Operating under the Richardson Milling brand, the oat and wheat milling business furthers Richardson’s diversifi -cation into value-added processing. It al-lows the company to expand its process-ing capacities and build on Richardson’s success in canola processing.

Richardson was one of the fi rst com-panies to market canola oil and now operates two successful canola process-ing plants in Lethbridge and in Yorkton, both of which are undergoing upgrades and expansions to keep up with growing demand for canola oil.

In addition to crushing and processing canola oil, Richardson produces canola-based margarines, oils and shortenings under its Canola Harvest retail brand and produces a wide range of private la-bel products for major food manufactur-ers in Canada and the U.S.

“With Richardson Milling, we are ex-cited to continue our diversifi cation into value-added processing and build on the success we have achieved in canola pro-cessing,” said Richardson International CEO Curt Vossen. “The oat processing business also provides us with an op-

ELEVATOR LOCATION PROVINCE

Lacombe East Alberta

Lavoy Alberta

High Level Alberta

Vulcan Alberta

Provost Alberta

Assiniboia Saskatchewan

Carrot River Saskatchewan

Davidson Saskatchewan

Kindersley Saskatchewan

Alameda Saskatchewan

Melville Saskatchewan

Langenburg Saskatchewan

Maple Creek Saskatchewan

Regina East / White City Saskatchewan

Unity Saskatchewan

Red River South Manitoba

South Lakes Manitoba

Dawson Creek British Columbia

Fort St. John British Columbia

The 19 elevators added by Richardson in its deal with Glencore

portunity to establish a presence in the U.S., which will increase our profi le and enhance our ability to meet the needs of the global marketplace.”

The milling business also gives Richardson a permanent presence in the U.S. market. Today, Richardson’s grain handling business in Canada is ap-proaching its optimal size, which leads Vossen’s team to eye fresh opportunities in the U.S. and elsewhere.

COMPETING WITH THE BIG BOYSThe question, of course, is whether or

not a Canadian company could compete successfully in the U.S. environment.

In an interview with World Grain, Richardson International

(Above) Richardson International’s facility in the North Vancouver terminal exports, on average, 3 million tonnes of grain per year. Photos courtesy of Richardson.


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Vossen said he foresaw no problem suc-cessfully competing in the U.S market. In fact, he said Richardson has been “doing it for years.” He said Richardson competes on a daily basis with large multinational grain companies such as Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland Co. and Bunge, which all have a presence in Canada, which all apply the same standards, the same business logic, the same access to capital, the same busi-ness strategy and the same excellence in terms of execution in the U.S. or Asia or anywhere else.

“We’ve competed in terms of the growth we’ve undertaken in the last number of years,” he said. “They’ve had a strategy; we’ve had a strategy. And all of us are here and prospering, it would appear to me, and I don’t see any dif-ference going across the border into the U.S. or any other market. You’ve got to learn it. You’ve got to be thoughtful in One of Richardson’s recently acquired elevators from Viterra in southern Manitoba.

FEATURE: Milestone year for richardson international


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Richardson Anniversary Events

• A C$120 million expansion at its Vancouver grain terminal to double export capacity. The two-year project is under way to build an addi-tional 80,000-tonne-capacity concrete storage annex, boosting the terminal’s export capacity from 3 million tonnes annually to 5 mil-lion tonnes. The expansion also includes upgrading both the distri-bution equipment in the terminal and the dust control system. Last year, the company invested $20 million to upgrade and enhance its rail yard and receiving system, which included the addition of a second railcar unload pit that will double the number of hopper cars it can unload daily from 150 to 300.

• A 25% ownership interest of Cascadia Terminal located on the north side of Burrard Inlet, Vancouver. (Richardson also owns a share of the Prince Rupert Grain Terminal in Prince Rupert, British Columbia).

• A 25% increase in the capacity of its Yorkton, Saskatchewan oilseed crushing plant from 2,400 tonnes of canola daily to 3,000 tonnes daily. The construction will be completed by the end of this year.

• A C$40 million investment in the Richardson Pioneer grain and crop inputs network. Included in the plan are former Viterra elevators at Stony Mountain and Letellier, Manitoba; Kindersley, Saskatch-ewan; and Lacombe, Alberta, which will each will receive high speed blenders, fertilizer storage and a 6,000-square-foot chemical and

seed warehouse to become full service crop input centers. The com-pany is also adding six high-speed fertilizer blenders at its facilities in Oyen and Magrath, Alberta; Kamsack, Saskatchewan; Shellbrook, Saskatchwan; and Shoal Lake, Manitoba.

• Adding four oat milling facilities and one wheat milling facility to its food processing group, including three oats processing plants in Canada (Barrhead, Alberta; Martensville, Saskatchwan; and Portage la Prairie, Manitoba) and two U.S. plants in South Sioux City, Ne-braska (oats) and Dawn, Texas (wheat milling).

• Adding 19 grain elevators, including 13 crop input centers, and an export terminal in Thunder Bay to its network of facilities.

• Investigating expansion of its Lethbridge, Alberta oilseed crushing plant to increase annual processing capacity of the existing plant.

• Richardson will add 14,000 tonnes of storage capacity to its eleva-tors in Carseland, Alberta; Crooked River, Saskatchwan; and Shoal Lake, Manitoba. The construction program will add between 54% and 68% of increased capacity to the grain facilities.

• Announcing the contribution of C$100,000 to one community proj-ect in each of the Prairie Provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta) as part of its Century Gifts program. The selected projects will be recreational in nature.


For more information, see Page 122.For more information, see Page 122.

90 September 2013 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com For more information, see Page 122. For more information, see Page 122.

your approach to it. You’ve got to study the market. They’ve had to do it here. We can certainly do it there.”

Vossen may be overly optimistic, or he may be right on the money. Besides

building Richardson International into the largest Canadian agribusiness, last year Richardson was named one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies for the fourth year in a row by Deloitte,

CIBC Commercial Banking, the National Post and Queen’s School of Business.

But even more importantly, sea-soned observers of the grain business in Canada have called Richardson’s man-agement team “shrewd” and have attrib-uted the success partially to the fact that the company is privately owned.

This, they say, gives Richardson’s

management team an opportunity to take time and assess a situation carefully be-fore they make a move without facing the pressures of a publicly-owned company that constantly has shareholders biting at

their heels to increase profits and make hasty decisions to satisfy the need to see the company making progress.

However, Vossen laughs at this analogy. “I think one of our weak-nesses is our strength,” he said. “One thing about being a publicly-traded company is you have access to public capital. By necessity, we have to be

Richardson International CEO Curt Vossen.


“We’ve competed with the big boys in the market and we’ve competed with them right out of Winnipeg for more than 100 years, and we’re as successful as we’ve ever been.”

— Richardson International CEO Curt Vossen.

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patient and careful. We don’t have the resources to be able to leverage these kinds of opportunities, so we have to plan, anticipate and prepare. And then, whether you’re private or public, your shareholders want to see performance, and it’s all about execution.

What has continued to serve Richardson well with its shareholders is that the com-

pany has been performing, said Vossen. “When we make a significant step,

whether it was the acquisition of those assets a few years ago that was the re-sult of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool/Agricore United transaction or spending the capital we spent in the interim from 2007 to 2013, all of it is based on a very clear mandate and expectation on the



Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Leo Quigley writes for a variety of national and international publications specializing

in agriculture and transportation. He can be reached at [email protected].


part of our shareholders that they get the kind of return on their invested capital that any public shareholder would look to expect, or better.

“Our job is to make sure we find the right opportunities without an unlimited access to capital and that we execute on those opportunities effectively so that the next time around we might be able to participate in a larger transaction.”

Vossen said he believes the patience results from Richardson’s owners real-izing that agriculture is a cyclical busi-ness and, therefore, they don’t expect things to follow a pre-determined path. They know that there are factors such as weather involved, but they also expect to receive returns that are equal, or better, compared to those of a public company.

excited about the futureAsked what he expects Richardson

will look like on its 200th anniversary, he said: “I hope we’re just as vibrant as we are today, bigger than we are today, as Canadian as we are today in terms of where we operate from and where our headquarters is. I’m particularly proud of being an international company, but with Canadian roots and a Canadian base.

“We’ve competed with the big boys in the market and we’ve competed with them right out of Winnipeg for more than 100 years, and we’re as successful as we’ve ever been. I would hope that we continue to have that Canadian base, that we continue to grow and that we become a larger and more relevant agriculture and food company. There are a lot of oppor-tunities in the food side of the spectrum that we will continue to look to pursue.

“’We’re very excited about the future.”

FEATURE: MileStone year For richardSon international


he Australian grain industry must collaborate on key is-sues to help the nation grasp its opportunity to become the primary food supplier for Asia, new Emerald Grain

CEO John Murray said during the annual Australian Grain Industry Conference July 29-31 in Melbourne, Australia.

Speaking during a panel discussion, Murray said poor rail infrastructure, high labor costs and lack of research and devel-opment could hamper Australia’s long-term competitiveness in international grain markets.

“Australia is a trusted, reliable and quality producer of safe food,” he said. “We must maintain this reputation internation-ally. But at the moment we aren’t adding enough value for our international customers. We need to be doing more research and development on new grain varieties and find new niche products.

“Knowing our overseas customers in Asia and the Middle East really well and growing with them is vital. If Australia doesn’t develop its grain supply to produce the varieties and quantities these customers want, then they will look elsewhere for that supply. Our customers’ needs are going to grow so we have to grow with them.”

He said Emerald Grain, like other Australian companies, was investing in the supply chain to create efficiencies, but poor rail infrastructure and high labor costs could hurt Australia’s position in the global grain market.

“The rail system in parts of Australia is appalling,” he said. “Rail is absolutely vital to the long-term competitive position of Australian grain. There is the opportunity for the industry to galvanize and work with government on fixing rail.”

He said problems with port bottlenecks and the shipping slot auction system would be overcome through the industry’s continued investment in grain storage and port infrastructure.

“We are going through growing pains, but competition

should eventually solve the shipping stem issue and improve port access,” he said. “It may end up that we over-invest, but it’s something that needs to occur for things to balance out.”

He said both industry and government should be respon-sible for formulating a plan to improve farm productivity so grain growers could get a better return at the farm gate.

Customer demand ChallengesMore than 700 delegates attended the conference at the

Crown Conference Center and learned, among other things, that the new Asian 7 — China, India, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia and Thailand — will account for 50% of global gross domestic product by 2050.

ANZ Chief Economist Warren Hogan told the audience that the world’s economic epicenter had moved away from Europe and the U.S., with Asia and Africa expected to account for most of the world’s new population over the next four decades.

“Asia will provide the biggest contribution in the next 15 years,” he said.

Hogan noted that looking at Australian grain exports alone, last year the top eight destinations for Australian wheat were all in Asia.

During his speech he also commented on the impact of

T

AustraliaAsiaseeks bigger role in

new emerald grain Ceo says country must seize opportunity to become primary food supplier during annual agIC event in melbourne

by arvin donley

(Above) More than 700 delegates attend the Australian Grain Industry Conference July 29-31 in Melbourne, Australia. Photo courtesy of the AGIC.

FEATURE


commodity prices on the Australian dollar. He said the AUD appeared to be broadly in line with recent commod-ity price movement and that he did not expect further significant drops in real commodity prices in the foreseeable fu-ture. As a result, over the next five to 10 years the AUD would stay in the A80-cent to A$1.10 range against the U.S. dollar, he said.

Customer demand ChallengesThe conference, hosted by Grain Trade

Australia (GTA), the Australian Oilseeds Federation, and Pulse Australia, also fo-cused on the challenges Australia faces in meeting customer demands.

Alain Caekaert of global barley pro-cessor Malteurop told delegates signifi-cant research into new varieties of malt barley was required to ensure adequate supply for brewers in the future.

Since 1993, plantings around the world

have fallen by 30% from 73 million hect-ares to 51 million hectares due to substi-tution from higher yielding corn acreage. Caekaert said there was a need for greater research and development into new hybrid varieties. He said commercial breeding companies were only interested in a crop maximizing a return, but hybrid varieties didn’t fit with malting quality.

Caekaert said globally malting barley for the 2013-14 crop looked to be better balanced between the four main supply regions (Australia, E.U.-28, Canada, and Argentina).

Australia remains the world’s largest malting barley exporter, shipping out 2 million tonnes in 2012-13.

He said while the growth of the Asian beer market had slowed due to lower de-mand in China, in Africa it had grown significantly, leading to overall world growth in demand of 1.1%. He told del-egates that good malt makes good beers

and that beer growth was here to stay.Consumers in general are demanding

greater traceability, more natural foods and a greater connection with food pro-ducers, delegates were told during a ses-sion on the sustainability of the process-ing sector.

Rob Halder of Coles said the biggest growth area in grain-based foods was ar-tisan breads, with consumers increasingly preferring to buy fresh, crusty bread daily.

The recently announced grain industry test weights for milling wheat received overwhelming support from the grain industry during a session: “Growing Australia’s Quality Advantage.”

Michael Schaefer, a South Australian producer and director of Grain Producers Australia, told delegates that producers needed to be acutely aware of the needs of end users whether they are in Australia or overseas.

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Milling’s John Bunn, who explained to delegates that wheat grain with a test weight of less than 78 kg/hl compromis-es the extraction value for flour millers.

Foodbank australia donationIt was also announced during the con-

ference that the Australian grain industry has made a commitment to the country’s largest food relief organization, Foodbank Australia, to supply 3,000 tonnes of grain a year to help feed those in need.

Processors will donate factory time to process grain into around 1,200 tonnes of breakfast cereal, 800 tonnes of pasta, 400 tonnes of flour and 240 tonnes of bread — the equivalent of 20 to 30 million meals.

GTA will manage the Grain Industry Consultative Group, whose job it will be to coordinate the collection of the grain from individual growers through to ma-jor companies.

“We are delighted to make this com-mitment to Foodbank,” GTA Chairman Peter Reading said. “The demand for healthy grain-based foods is increas-ing and that’s where we, as an industry, come in, starting after the next harvest. We believe the target is achievable and will be a world-leading testament to the generosity of spirit that exists within the Australian grain industry.”

new code oF practiceThe Australian Grain Industry Code

of Practice, designed to set out common standards, operating procedures and doc-umented processes for the grain supply chain, was unveiled during the conference.

The GTA board intends to make the code mandatory for all members begin-ning July 1, 2014 and will encourage non-members to become signatories.

Reading said the code was developed after 18 months of industry consulta-tion and called it a “demonstration of the industry’s willingness to embrace self-regulation.”

“The industry has to have processes in place to ensure the delivery of quality product to the customer, whether they are in Australia or overseas,” Reading said. “We all understand the need for varietal

testing and classification, development of trading standards, chemical use and tol-erances, government export certification and contractual integrity, to name a few.”

He said the code demonstrates to all sections of the industry and govern-ment, as well as customers, that the Australian industry has the capability to consistently deliver a quality product.

“We are competing in a changing global grains industry, so it is critical that all our customers have confidence that we can successfully produce, store and supply grain that meets their expec-tation,” Reading said.



FEATURE: auStralia SeekS bigger role in aSia FEATURE: auStralia SeekS bigger role in aSia

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GRAIN DRYEREXPERTS



Dust control, preventionBest practices management helps eliminate safety, health concerns associated with excessive dust at grain elevatorsby Susan Reidy

gRainoperationS

Grain dust is an inevitable part of grain handling and stor-age that must be addressed with best management practices in order to prevent safety and health concerns.

Dust from grain handling operations can be a mixture of grain particles, soil, plant material, fungi, bacteria, agricul-tural chemical residues, and waste from insects, rodents and/or birds. The mixture can vary depending on the type of grain, the growing conditions, how the grain was harvested, stored and processed, according to Kansas State University (KSU). Rotten grain contains large amounts of dust and bacteria.

Grain dust is highly combustible and can explode if enough

becomes airborne or accumulates on a surface. A grain dust explosion includes four basic elements: the fuel (dust par-ticles); oxygen; confinement (grain bins, bin deck galleries, silos, downspouts, enclosed drag conveyors); and an ignition source (short circuits, static electricity, lighters, overheated bearings, friction, cutting torches or welding devices, grinder sparks, etc.).

The explosive nature of dust varies based on the type of grain and the dust’s minimum explosive concentration (MEC), a measurement of particle size and energy nature. The MEC vary depending on the type of grain, but a critical MEC lev-

Grain dust is highly combustible and can explode if enough becomes airborne or accumulates on a surface. photos courtesy by Charles Brutlag/Shutterstock.com.


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el can be reached in a very short time. Keeping dust levels below the MEC re-duces the risk of explosion.

In addition to the obvious safety concerns, grain dust can cause serious health problems for those exposed. If in-haled, grain dust can cause lung-related problems such as coughing, shortness of breath, wheezing, asthma, chronic bronchitis, farmer’s lung and allergies. Gastrointestinal problems can also oc-cur, along with skin rashes, nasal irrita-tion, grain fever and inflammation of the membrane lining the eyelids.

Some people may be extremely sensi-tive to dust, while others may be able to withstand several exposures before show-ing any sensitivity, according to KSU.

Three general types of practices can be used to reduce dust accumulation and emissions from grain handling and processing, including process modi-fications, capture/collection systems

and oil-suppression systems. Control-ling grain dust emissions will provide a cleaner and safer work environment for elevator employees as well as the sur-rounding community.

process modificationsModifying or changing the process

of grain handling and storage is an af-fordable solution, but can seem harder, because it means changing the way it’s always been done.

Communication is an important part of grain handling, particularly with neighbors. Grain elevator operators should provide their community with contact information should they have a complaint. Notify neighbors when harvest is about to start and what hours grain will be loaded and unloaded. If a crop is particularly wet or large, let the community know the dryer will be run-ning more than usual.

A grain dust explosion includes four basic elements: the fuel, oxygen, confinement and an ignition source. Photo by Carroteater/Shutterstock.com.

grainoPerAtionS grainoPerAtionS


Let neighbors know if you will be conducting particularly noisy operations and how long you expect it to last.

Consider the wind speed and direc-tion, and limit grain handling when the wind would cause neighbors to receive excessive amounts of dust or chaff. Winds are stronger and windy days more common, in the spring and fall — the same times of year when more grain is handled.

One of the primary ways dust is generated is when a falling stream of grain hits the receiving pit. A sub-stantial reduction in emissions can be achieved by reducing the grain free-fall distances and grain velocities. Some methods for this include:• Enclosing the receiving area, pref-

erably with doors at both ends of a re-ceiving shed. A receiving shed with no doors (or open doors) may create a “wind tunnel” effect that is worse than no shed at all. Another possibility is curtains or a shroud around the receiving pit.• Prevent grain from falling as pos-

sible at loadout with dead boxes, socks, drop-down spouts or sleeves that extend at least six inches below the sides of the receiving container to minimize the free-fall distance.• Specifying dust-tight cleaning

and processing equipment.• Using lip-type shaft seals at bear-

ings on conveyors and other equip-ment housings.• Usingflanged inletsandoutletson

all spouting, transitions and miscella-neous hoppers.• Fully enclosing and sealing all ar-

eas in contact with products handled.

• Restricting the flow of the grainwhen the receiving container is empty or only partly full.• Using aeration fans as little as possi-

ble when loading grain into storage bins.• Controlling the speed of grain

handling equipment, keeping conveyor belts at the minimum speed necessary.• Locating and configuring equip-

ment so that the building helps block windblown dust.

If grain is being stored in outdoor piles, store it for the shortest amount of time possible and keep the piles covered with a tarp.

capture/collection systemsCapture and collection systems con-

trol emissions after they occur. Typical devices used in grain handling and pro-cessing are cyclones (mechanical col-lectors)andfabricfilters.Bothdevicesmust be properly operated and main-tained to do an effective job. Malfunc-tions can actually cause increased emis-

sions until repairs are made, according to KSU.

Cyclones tend to collect a higher per-centage of larger particles, which can be returned to the grain stream. Smaller par-ticles typically pass through the cyclone tothefilter,wheretheyarecollectedfordisposal in some other manner.Use of cyclones before a fabric filter

can lower thedust loadingon the filter.However, the filter is less efficient be-cause the larger particles captured by the cyclone would otherwise contribute tothecollectionefficiencyofthematofdustthat buildsuponthefilterfabric,ac-

The explosive nature of dust varies based on the type of grain and the dust’s minimum explosive concentration (MEC), a mea-surement of particle size and energy nature.

grainoperationS grainoperationS


cording to the National Research Coun-cil. The lower dust loading and lower ef-ficiency tend to balance each other.

Air pollution control devices should be operated whenever there is grain present. Check the equipment daily for proper functioning, and fix any malfunc-tions quickly to minimize the amount and duration of excess dust.

Schedule regular maintenance of con-trol equipment, and keep equipment logs with information such as dates of inspections, maintenance procedures and replacements.

oil suppression systemsOil suppression systems have been

developed to prevent elevator explo-sions as well as control emissions. White mineral oil, soybean oil or some other vegetable oil is typically used.

In an oil suppression system, dust ad-heres to the oil added to the surface of the grain. Physical forces can cause dust particles to detach from the surface of the grain. Suppression of smaller dust particles is more prevalent because the adhesion force for smaller particles is greater relative to the acting physical forces, according to the U.S. Environ-mental Protection Agency (EPA).

Effectiveness of oil suppression sys-

tems depends heavily on the point of application, the EPA said. It should be added as early as possible, preferably before the grain is first elevated.

To ensure the oil is dispersed well, it can be applied as a top dressing before the grain enters the bucket elevator or at other grain transfer points, or from be-low the grain stream at a grain transfer point, using one or more spray nozzles.

Oil can also be added in the boot of the bucket elevator leg, at the discharge point from a receiving pit onto a belt or other type conveyor and in a screw con-veyor, according to KSU.

The amount of oil needed for dust suppression varies depending on the type of grain handled and the amount of dust present. Adding more oil will not substantially increase the amount of dust suppressed, the EPA said.

As little as a half gallon of oil per thousand bushels of grain can reduce dust by up to 80%. Effective dust con-trol can be achieved for up to six months or for six to eight handlings of the grain after the oil is applied.

maintenanceOnce preventive processes are in

place, maintaining equipment is one of the best ways to ensure dust emissions

are controlled. Make sure equipment is operated according to manufacturer’s instructions. This is especially true for grain dryers, which can be the source of many complaints from neighbors.

Inspect dryer screens before each start-up, and do not exceed the recom-mended capacity for the amount of grain passing through the dryer. Enclose grain inlets and outlets to the dryer, and en-close as much of the dryer as is prac-tical. Double check the screen perfora-tions for column dryers and the screen filter size for rack dryers.

In other areas of the grain elevator, be sure to perform regular inspections on all equipment and make needed re-pairs immediately.

Clean up indoor and outdoor areas such as floors, roofs and decks to prevent ac-cumulation of chaff and dust that can blow around. In addition, clean up the yard, ditches and curbs as needed to prevent ac-cumulation of grain, chaff and grain dust.

Any grain spills on driveways or ac-cess roads should be cleaned up, and unpaved roadways or traffic areas can be watered to minimize the amount of dust in the air.



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wo grains are bucking from tradition in ways that poten-tially may boost the grain-based foods industry, such as in increasing protein levels in products and expanding

gluten-free formulation options.Traditionally, quinoa has been grown in Bolivia and Peru.

Now U.S. researchers want to fi nd out how the grain, which is gluten-free and has a high protein level, will fare on farmland in the Pacifi c Northwest.

Traditionally, sorghum has been used as animal feed in the United States. Now, formulators are fi nding ways to use the gluten-free grain in pancakes, pizza and other grain-based foods.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded a $1.6 mil-lion grant to Washington State University (WSU) researchers for their efforts to fi nd ways and reasons to grow quinoa. The WSU project aims to identify the best varieties suited for or-ganic production in the Pacifi c Northwest, develop best man-agement practices for production, and assess market demand and future marketing options for quinoa growers and sellers.

Quinoa is adaptable to many environmental and climatic conditions, said Kevin Murphy, Ph.D., a plant breeder at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, U.S. It may grow in a range of soil pH, and it tolerates light frost and late rains.

“Quinoa grows well in regions that do not typically reach temperatures above 95 degrees F during the period of pollen formation,” he said. “Additionally, quinoa thrives in areas that receive little to no rainfall during seed maturity.”

A graduate student at WSU is trying to fi nd a range of prices

TU.S. researchers try growing quinoa while sorghum � nds food use in gluten-free applications

Startingnew traditions

by Jeff Gelski

FEATURE



farmers might receive for growing quinoa, Murphy said.“We don’t know the expected prices for quinoa at this stage,

but it currently retails from $2.50 to $7 per pound,” he said.A majority of the world’s quinoa is grown on a 14,000-

foot Andean plateau spanning parts of Peru and Bolivia, ac-cording to the United Nations, which has called 2013 the “International Year of Quinoa.” Bolivia and Peru account for more than half of the world’s 70,000 tonnes of quinoa produced annually.

Besides being gluten-free, quinoa has essential amino acids. Whereas it cost less than $70 per tonne a decade ago, quinoa sold for more than $2,000 per tonne in 2013, according to the FAO of the United Nations.

Other areas in the world are working to increase supply. Canada, China, Denmark, Italy, India, Kenya, Morocco and the Netherlands are producing or undertaking agronomic tri-als toward commercial production of quinoa, according to the United Nations.

The United Nations wants to engage with international ag-ricultural research centers and national research centers on a global research network and gene bank database to maintain the crop’s 120 variations.

Quinoa may be prepared in several ways, including whole grain, raw or toasted flour, flakes, semolina and instant pow-der, according to the United Nations. Protein levels fluctuate between 12.5% and 16.7%. Quinoa contains iron and calcium.

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa, or goosefoot) technically is not a cereal grain, according to the Whole Grains Council, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. It is a “pseudo-cereal,” a name for foods that are cooked and eaten like grains and have a similar nutrient profile.

This year innovations have come from suppliers of quinoa ingredients.

DeutscheBack GmbH & Co. KG, Ahrensburg, Germany, introduced three new baking premixes in TopBake quinoa bread, TopSweet quinoa pound cake and TopSweet quinoa cupcake. TopBake quinoa bread, a concentrate, was created for a mixture of 90% wheat flour and 10% quinoa flour. The two TopSweet items may work in applications using quinoa flour, vegetable oil and wheat flour.

Novel Ingredient Services, West Caldwell, New Jersey, be-came the exclusive U.S. distributor (neutraceutical market) for Quinoasure, a quinoa powder suitable for use as an ingre-dient in foods, beverages, dietary supplements and meal re-placements. The company also services Canada and Mexico.

Available in both conventional and organic form, Quinoasure is odorless, virtually tasteless and has better mouthfeel than quinoa grain, according to Novel Ingredient Services.

Factoria Quinoa, in Bogota, Colombia, uses proprietary technology to develop and manufacture Quinoasure, which is produced using a Fair Trade model. Conventional Quinoasure is sourced from the Andes in Colombia. Organic Quinoasure comes from organically certified Bolivian quinoa seeds.

ConAgra Mills, Omaha, Nebraska, U.S., includes quinoa in its ancient grains portfolio along with amaranth, millet, sor-ghum, teff, buckwheat and spelt. A small, light-colored round grain, quinoa possesses a nutty, earthy flavor, according to


FEATURE: starting new traditions

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The Scoular Co., Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., offers quinoa flour. SK Food International, Fargo, North Dakota, U.S., offers quinoa crisps for use in such applications as cereal, en-ergy bars, snack foods and granola.

Gluten-free sorGhumLike quinoa, sorghum’s rise in food

use has happened alongside the rise of the gluten-free category. The market for gluten-free foods and beverages reached $4.2 billion in 2012 after a compound annual growth rate of 28% from 2008 to 2012, according to Packaged Facts.

Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM), Decatur, Illinois, U.S., offers Harvest Pearl white sorghum flour.

ADM had pancakes with sorghum at its booth during the Institute of Food Technologists’ annual meeting and food exposition July 13-16 in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

“Sorghum is a good fit for pancakes because it can be used as a direct re-placement for wheat to make a gluten-free pancake that has a great color, texture and flavor,” said Brook Carson, director of R&D, at ADM Milling in Overland Park, Kansas, U.S.

Sorghum may be used in multi-grain applications, and it may increase whole grain content in baked foods and snack items.

“Sorghum works very well in cereal applications because it has a clean flavor profile and a crisp texture without being too fragile,” Carson said.

Gluten-free sorghum applications include pizza crust, crackers, cake, cookies, brownies, muffins, pancakes and bread, according to ADM. When used in conjunction with other pro-teins, starches and gums, sorghum flour creates products with good vol-ume and texture.

Since sorghum does not contain gluten proteins, it will not build structure and maintain a gluten network like wheat, but it does provide body, Carson said.

other non-traditional grains to consider

Grain-based foods companies seeking to create products with higher protein levels and gluten-free qualifications increasingly are discovering they have more grains to choose from. Here’s a sampling of some other non-traditional grains:

Amaranth: The domestication of amaranth, a food crop of the Aztecs, has been dated to between 6,000 and 8,000 years ago, according to the Whole Grains Council, Boston. Amaranth is gluten-free and contains calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and even vitamin C. Protein levels are 13% to 14%. When cooking with amaranth, the Whole Grains Council sug-gests using at least 6 cups of water for every 1 cup of amaranth.

Buckwheat: Cultivated as a crop as long ago as 4,000 B.C. in the Balkan region of Europe, buckwheat contains protein, fiber, zinc, copper and manganese, according to the Whole Grains Council. Because of protein digestibility issues, buckwheat is not the best protein source for children or anyone with digestive tract issues.

Chia: A third-party laboratory tests every single batch of chia from The Chia Co., based in Melbourne, Australia. The tests make certain that every 15 grams of chia contain 5.6 grams of fiber, 2.9 grams of omega-3 fatty acid and 3.1 grams of protein.

Farro: A European grain derived from wheat, farro dates to the ancient Egyptians, according to American Roland Food Corp., New York, New York. Roland Farro has magnesium, fiber and vitamins A, B, C and E.

Freekeh: According to Freekehlicious, Norwood, New Jersey, freekeh refers to the harvesting of grains while they are still soft, young and green. Then they are parched, roasted and dried. The process captures and retains the grains at the state of peak taste and nutrition. A 42-gram serving of freekeh contains 6 grams of dietary fiber, 6 grams of protein, 25 mg of calcium and 2.2 mg of iron.

Freekeh Foods, Minneapolis, Minnesota, this year launched an organic freekeh line. The com-pany offers product in the flavors of original, rosemary and tamari.

Kamut: Kamut International, Missoula, Montana, offers Kamut, a brand name for khorasan wheat. A study published in the January issue of the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition focused on Kamut’s ability to increase antioxidant capacity and decrease inflammation.

Millet: In many African and Asian areas, millet is a major food component, including in por-ridge, according to a review published in Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety. With value-added strategies and appropriate processing technologies, millet grains may find a place in value-added and health-food products in North America and Europe, accord-ing to the review. Using millet, which is gluten-free, in ready-to-eat breakfast cereals seems feasible. Incorporating millet into bread or noodles may be more difficult since millet has no gluten. Millet may be used to replace a percentage of wheat flour in such applications.

Spelt: Bay State Milling, Quincy, Massachusetts, in 2012 partnered with exclusive growers to offer OrganicEssentials whole spelt and OrganicEssentials white spelt flour. The products provide the health benefits of whole wheat with a milder flavor profile, according to Bay State Milling.

Suntava Purple Corn: The color in Suntava Purple Corn comes from the high levels of an-thocyanins, according to Suntava Corp., Afton, Minnesota. The purple corn is being used as an ingredient in such food applications as tortilla chips.

Teff: The tiny size of teff makes it suited to semi-nomadic life in areas of Ethiopia and Eritrea, where it originated, according to the Whole Grains Council. Ethiopians use teff, which is gluten-free, in injera, a spongy flatbread. A cup of cooked teff has 123 mg of calcium. Teff also has high levels of resistant starch and is an excellent source of vitamin C.

FEATURE: starting new traditions FEATURE: starting new traditions


Sorghum flour has 8 grams of dietary fi-ber and 9 grams of protein per serving, which compares to rice flour at 2.5 grams of dietary fiber and 6 grams of protein.

“Most of the comparison work we have done is with rice flour, since it is the primary flour used in gluten-free applications,” Carson said. “Sorghum flour has fewer calories than rice flour and identical profile for fats and carbohydrates.”

Formulators need to understand the unique characteristics of sorghum flour, she said.

“For example, the hydration rate and capacity, as well as the starch gelatiniza-tion temperature, is different for sorghum compared to wheat flour,” Carson said. “Formula and process modifications may need to be made to accommodate.”

U.S. supply of sorghum is rising. Intended plantings for 2013 were 7,620,000 acres, which would com-

pare with 6,244,000 acres in 2012 and 5,481,000 acres in 2011, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Texas, with 3 million acres of intended quinoa plantings in 2013, may overtake Kansas, at 2.9 million acres of intended plantings, as the top-producing state.

More supply may be needed to keep prices down. Not only food formula-tors are finding value in sorghum. In the United States, South America and Australia, sorghum grain is used primar-ily for livestock feed and also increas-ingly in ethanol plants, according to the United Sorghum Checkoff, Lubbock, Texas. The pet food industry uses sor-ghum because of its low glycemic in-dex, according to the United Sorghum Checkoff. One area of focus for the United Sorghum Checkoff is funding re-search that examines sorghum’s poten-tial to help in the areas of cancer, high cholesterol and obesity.

Jeff Gelski is associate editor of Food Business News, sister publication of World Grain. He may

be reached at [email protected].

U.S. sorghum plantings(in 1,000 acres)

2011

2012

2013 7,620*

5,481

6,244

*intended plantingsSource: U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service



FEATURE: Starting neW traditionS

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eather in Europe, Asia and North America during the spring of 2013 was wet and cool resulting in delays in spring planting and crop growth rates. Since that

time there was a period of favorable crop weather during the early to middle part of summer, but the pattern more recently has trended notably drier in several areas, raising some concern over 2013-14 crop development. It is probably too soon to jump to conclusions, but the situation is worth a quick review.

NORTH AMERICAAt the top of the list of dry areas is North America, and in

particular the heart of the U.S. Corn and Soybean Belt, the northern and southern U.S. Plains, portions of the U.S. lower Mississippi River Basin and across the heart of the Canadian Prairies. Most of the dryness is just drier biased conditions with little threat of serious impact on production. However, that is not the case in the western and central U.S. Corn and Soybean Belt where late August weather trended much warm-er while rainfall continued well below average. Dryness in the U.S. Midwest had its roots earlier in summer, but cooler than usual temperatures often masked the dryness and kept crop moisture demand low, which conserved soil moisture. In more recent days and weeks, the Midwest moved under the infl u-ence of a high pressure ridge aloft which further suppressed rainfall and more importantly raised temperatures to the point

of inducing stronger drying rates and crop moisture demand. The environment did not take long to deplete soil moisture and induce a much more serious level of crop stress.

Early September took on a critical role for determining coarse grain and oilseed production for the U.S. and Canada. Timely rain and warm temperatures were needed most to restore more favorable crop moisture while still stimulating rapid plant development rates. Even though North America is in a warmer than usual mode right now, there is still worry over early frost and freezes, although that seems like a moot point now that yields have taken a tumble in response to re-cent warm and dry conditions.

Most likely the warmer-than-usual and certainly the drier-than-usual bias will prevail deep into September, and that will extend market and producer worries over production potentials. Some cooler air is inevitable, but early indications suggest dry-ness will still prevail even though some rain will evolve.

World Weather Inc. has been suggesting a wet and cool har-vest season will develop across the lower Midwest, southern Plains, Delta and southeastern states this year. That, in con-junction with the current worry over dry and warm weather, will translate into some production and crop quality changes.

EUROPEEurope has been a land of contrasts this growing season.

Unusually wet and cool weather through spring delayed much fi eldwork and seriously changed production potential for some crops. Weather conditions improved during mid-summer and then suddenly turned hot and dry for a little while. Since then,

W North America, particularly the heart of the U.S. Corn and Soybean Belt, is an area of concern

by Drew Lerner

Dryness expands around the world

WORLD GRAIN WEATHER REPORT


temperatures have been a little more seasonable while rainfall has remained lighter than usual. Soil moisture is quite limited in western and southern portions of the continent and that has been good for small grain harvesting, but perhaps less welcome for coarse grain and oil-seed production.

Periodically there have been signs of hope for returning to more normal weather across the continent. The recent drier and warmer biased weather has stressed some crops — mostly those in the southeast. A general boost in rainfall is needed with special emphasis on the southeastern one-third of the continent where conditions were driest.

Computer model forecasts were sug-gesting that the final days in August and early September would likely generate a boost in rainfall across south-central and southeastern Europe. If the forecast verifies, and it should, there will be ad-

equate relief to dryness in time to finish off summer crops and begin the 2014 winter crop planting.

WESTERN CISSimilar to southeastern Europe, a sig-

nificant period of dry weather has re-cently occurred in Ukraine, Moldova and some immediate neighboring areas of Russia and Belarus. Some of these areas have been drier biased since early July and production has been cut and sum-mer crop quality reduced. This has been especially true for western and southern Ukraine where crop conditions were nearly ideal earlier this summer, but re-cent weather has been stressful, raising concern over possible coarse grain, oil-seed and sugarbeet production declines.

Weather in the first 10 days of September was advertised to be wet in many areas west of the Ural Mountains. The forecast was extremely important

since without the moisture there will be delays to autumn planting, emergence and establishment in wheat and rye pro-duction areas.

CHINAOne of the worse bouts of dryness

noted in recent years in eastern China occurred in the Yangtze River Basin during July and early August. The dry-ness seriously impacted rice, sugarcane, citrus and a few groundnut produc-tion areas. Some areas from Hunan to Zhejiang went rain free for nearly six weeks, which was amazing since most summers produce torrents of rain and frequent flooding.

A couple of typhoons brought dryness relief in mid-to-late August while shift-ing the greatest dryness northward into the east-central provinces.

A part of the new dry region was eased from dryness, but there is a part

WORLD GRAIN WEATHER REPORT: DRYNESS EXPANDS AROUND THE WORLD



of the North China Plain, including a key corn, soybean and groundnut production area, that was expected to get little to no rain through the first week in September, leaving some con-cern for late season crop production.

INDIAIndia has had a wonderful wet summer, and dryness is not

much of an issue for most of the nation. Flood conditions oc-curred for a while in the heart of Madhya Pradesh, a key oilseed production area. In contrast, rainfall this summer has not been very great in Pakistan, Rajasthan or Gujarat, India. These drier biased areas have not been dry enough in the past to be listed as a dryness problem area. However, World Weather, Inc. be-lieves that dry weather will prevail in these three areas in early September and, if correct, the region will run a higher-than-av-erage risk of premature monsoonal rain withdrawal.

An earlier than usual withdrawal of the monsoon season rarely creates a problem for near-term crop development po-tential. However, it does leave the potential for drier than usu-al conditions during late September and October when many grain, oilseed, sugarcane, pulse, rice and sugar crops normally reproduce and fill.

The implications of the forecast are primarily that crop con-ditions in unirrigated fields may deteriorate in the next few weeks if the rainfall of mid-August turns out to be the last significant rain of the season.

SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE CROPSIn addition to all of the Northern Hemisphere crop areas

of concern, Australia has dryness in most of its northern and south-central winter grain and oilseed production areas. Dryness is also a concern in eastern portions of South Africa where over half of its wheat is normally produced, and a huge part of Argentina is drier than usual and needs signifi-cant rain soon to support favorable crop establishment prior to reproduction.

In Brazil, winter wheat damage has already occurred thanks to early July freezes that occurred while many crops were re-producing or approaching reproduction. Parana, Brazil’s larg-est wheat producing state, was expected to lose 34% of this year’s wheat crop because of the freezes.

Overall, many areas in the world are trending notably drier than usual. While there is plenty of hope for relieving rainfall, there is still the potential for dryness to impact domestic and international trade and world prices.

Drew Lerner is a senior agricultural meteorologist with World Weather, Inc. He may be reached at [email protected]. World Weather, Inc. forecasts and comments pertaining to present, past and future weather

conditions included in this report constitute the corporation’s judgment as of the date of this report and are subject to change without notice.


WORLD GRAIN WEATHER REPORT: DRYNESS EXPANDS AROUND THE WORLD WORLD GRAIN WEATHER REPORT: DRYNESS EXPANDS AROUND THE WORLD


Golfetto Sangati to supply Wudeli with 183 roller mills

QUINTO DI TREVISO, ITALY — Golfetto Sangati, part of Pavan Group, announced on Aug. 2 a confirmed order to supply 183 roll-er mills to Wudeli Flour Group Baixiang Co. Ltd, Baixiang, Hebei Province, China. It is part of the Wudeli Flour Group, one of the larg-est mills in the world with a daily output of 25,000 tonnes.

Wudeli Flour Group has decided to boost its capacity to pro-duce wheat flour destined for the whole of the Chinese market, including Tibet.

The technology chosen for the purpose is Golfetto Sangati’s Syn-thesis SY09 roller mills, which offer ultra-precise milling adjust-ment, are easy to maintain and can comply to the most stringent health standards.

The design of the plants and machinery was monitored throughout by the company’s offices in Quinto di Treviso, while the manufactur-ing process is currently under way at GBS Grain Manufacturing Co. Ltd. in Miyun, Beijing, China.

The roller mills, 166 single and 17 superimposed, will be installed on four lines: 750 tonnes per day for each. Start-up of the line is set for January 2014.

SupplierneWS

Flexicon europe moves to new headquarters

WHITSTABLE, KENT, ENGLAND — Flex-icon Europe Ltd. has moved into its new U.K. headquarters in Whitstable, Kent, a significant-ly larger facility that increases manufacturing area, office space and operational efficiencies, and accommodates a larger staff, Managing Director Keith Bourton, announced July 29.

The company was previously located in Herne Bay, Kent, where it occupied a pri-mary facility, and subsequently expanded by adding an adjacent manufacturing plant.

“The Whitstable facility not only expands our total area, but consolidates it under one roof with large open spaces, significantly im-proving production flow and manufacturing capacity,” Bourton said.

Administrative space has doubled and in-cludes new conference facilities for visiting customers and an expanded staff of technical sales personnel responsible for sales through-out Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Fully renovated, the company-owned building is outfitted with energy saving lighting and heating systems, and is strategi-cally located in an industrial park with rapid access to highways and hotels.

The facility produces a broad range of bulk handling equipment including Flex-ible Screw Conveyors, Tubular Cable

Conveyors, Pneumatic Conveying Sys-tems, Bulk Bag Dischargers, Bulk Bag Conditioners, Bulk Bag Fillers, Manual Dumping Stations, Drum/Box/Container Dumpers, Weigh Batching/Blending Sys-tems and Automated Plant-wide Systems

integrated with new or existing processes.Flexicon Europe Ltd. is a part of the Flex-

icon Group headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, U.S. Flexicon’s other opera-tions are located in Brisbane, Australia; Port Elizabeth, South Africa; and Santiago, Chile.

Golfetto Sangati is supplying 183 roller mills to Wudeli Flour Group Baixi-ang Co. Ltd. in China. Photo courtesy of Golfetto Sangati.

Flexicon has moved to a significantly larger headquarters in Whitstable, Kent, england. Photo courtesy of Flexicon.

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Chief receives award for top performance

KEARNEY, NEBRASKA, U.S. — For the third time in the past four years, Chief Agri-Industrial Division was presented the award for top performing business unit at the Chief Industries, Inc. annual manage-ment meeting. Each year, Chief Industries presents this award to the top performing business unit based on its return on operating assets.

In addition, Chief Agri-Industrial received an award for best new product introduction for its successful launch of its environmental products operation.

The division was also given special recognition for taking a group of dealers to present a significant charitable contribution to an or-phanage in the Dominican Republic as part of their Dealer Loyalty trip this March.

“The drought of 2012 had a significant impact on the overall mar-

ket,” said Roger Townsend, Chief Agri-Industrial Division president. “The Chief Agri-Industrial business unit experienced a small decrease in revenue for the fiscal year, but with a solid improvement to the bot-tom line. We are honored to receive this award, but our top priority is to take care of our customers. We are committed to taking care of our customers, keeping an excellent team environment with all employees, and maintaining a positive relationship with our suppliers.”

Chief Agri-Industrial division has made great improvements over the past several years, said D.J. Eihusen, chairman and chief exec-utive officer of Chief Industries. “The division continues to grow and expand its products offerings,” he said. “They set an excellent example of teamwork, passion, commitment to taking care of the customer, and living by the founding principles of Chief Industries.”

AIRLANCO hires Hanson as dust filtration sales manager

FALLS CITY, NEBRASKA, U.S. — AIRLANCO announced on July 10 that it has hired Scott Hanson as dust filtration sales manager.

Hanson will be responsible for overseeing daily sales op-erations and will increase domestic coverage of dust collection sales representation. Additionally, he will work with the gen-eral manager to assist in the development and implementation of strategic and operational plans to maximize sales and expand market territory.

Hanson received a bachelor’s of science degree in industrial man-agement with a specialty area in biochemistry from Purdue Univer-sity, West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.

He has extensive experience in running a manufacturer’s represen-tative business, subcontracting, working with contractors and con-sulting engineers. He has maintained his membership in two filtra-tion technical committees within ASHRAE and was a former voting member of SSPC62.1 (IAQ).

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Pavan introduces iPhone app

Chief hires business development manager

KEARNEY, NEBRASKA, U.S. — Don Lien has joined Chief Agri-Industrial Division as business development manager, effective July 1. This is a newly created position within Chief.

Lien’s primary role will be to build relationships and educate co-operatives and grain companies regarding the full line of products available through Chief Agri-Industrial.

Lien has extensive experience in agribusiness, in both sales and general management with companies such as Central Farm-er’s Cooperative, Farmland Industries Inc., and Panhandle Cooperative Associations.

For the last nine years he has served as general manager of the CHS Agri Service Center in Holdrege, Nebraska, U.S. He has a de-gree in agribusiness.

“We are very pleased to have someone of Don’s caliber and ex-perience join our management team,” said Roger Townsend, Chief Agri-Industrial president. “His extensive background and experience in agribusiness will further enhance our management team and help us continue to live up to our mantra, ‘We engineer relationships.’”

PADUA, ITALY — Pa-van recently introduced the ONBOARD iPhone app designed for food technologists and line op-erators in dry pasta, fresh pasta and snack pellets manufacturing plants. This app is a quick and precise tool for everyday work flow and opera-tions, Pavan said.

The app has two main sections:

1. Mass balance — This function provides useful tools to calculate dough recipes and dry-ing parameters.

• Single-ingredient recipes (one dry ingredient and water, typi-cally used in dry pasta production)

• Multi-ingredients recipes (typically used in fresh pasta produc-tion), with the possibility of inserting up to eight different ingredients and calculating the absolute and relative quantity of each ingredient as well as the quantity of water necessary to obtain a given moisture of the final dough.

2. Mollier charts — This function provides data relating to the saturated steam diagram, with the possibility of selecting either tem-perature or humidity as a starting point.

The calculations and results can be sent via e-mail to share the information and recipes with co-workers.

The app also gives the chance to explore the Pavan world, includ-ing watching video clips of plants in operation and discovering the activities of the Pavan’s Food Master, a series of seminars in food technology to provide specific training for managers and skilled staff involved in the production of dry pasta, fresh pasta and snack pellets.

The app will be available soon for iPad.

Pavan has introduced the ONBOARD iPhone app for food technologists and line operators. Photo courtesy of Pavan.

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Mathews Company launches redesigned website

CRYSTAL LAKE, ILLINOIS, U.S. — Mathews Company (M-C) recently launched a redesign of its website (www.mathewscompany.com). The new look is complemented with more interactive func-tions that provide in-depth information.

Product pages allow visitors to view dryer renderings, review detailed dryer specifications, obtain dryer dimensions, view the product’s photo gallery of recent installations, read user testimonials, and even request a quote from a dealer, all right from the individual product page.

Other expanded features include a newly redesigned “About M-C” page that shares the company history, company values, and provides a general overview of M-C’s principles that put the cus-tomer first. A newly added Media section features news releases, media coverage of customer’s equipment, construction videos, and product photo gallery.

The redesign also includes a Technical Service feature where cus-

tomers can download manuals, ask a technical service question, re-view FAQs, and register their product warranty. Most notably, the M-C website now includes a dealer locator map that assists visitors in finding an M-C dealer closest to their geographic location.

A dedicated International section allows worldwide growers to have easy and quick access to product information in metric units, worldwide dryer installation photos, and product brochures available for download in several languages. In addition, a newly redesigned dealer portal is nearing completion and will provide comprehensive dealer support.

“We wanted a simple, bold and informative website to better re-flect our company’s focus,” said Tamara Steinkamp, marketing com-munications. “In addition to providing information to our loyal cur-rent customer base, this complete overhaul will help us to ‘reintro-duce’ M-C to the next-generation of farmers who rely on the internet to research a company and its products.”

AIRLANCO launches new website

FALLS CITY, NEBRASKA, U.S. — AIRLANCO, a division of Ag Growth International, announced on Aug. 2 the launch of a brand new website (www.airlanco.com).

Designed with a fresh new look and user-friendly navigation, the AIRLANCO site is updated with the latest product and service infor-mation on aeration and dust control products. The site also contains

product specs, videos and company news.The new, easy-to-navigate design allows the users to quickly

find relevant content. AIRLANCO said it is always dedicated to providing the highest level of service, and the new website is simply another platform to continue to achieve that level of customer service.

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Alapala introduces three new machines

CORUM, TURKEY — Alapala recently introduced three new products — the Similago II roller mill, a new purifier and a quadro plansifter.

The Similago II roller mill satisfies the most stringent hygiene standards, and of-fers milling precision along with simple maintenance. State-of-the-art electronics make it user friendly and flexible. The quick roll change module car-tridge has been updated. It is available in the 8 roll superimposed version with option for either 250 mm or 300 mm roll diameters.

The new purifier is an evolution of the model DISA, offering higher efficiency, integrated with op-timal screen illumination. It features a new-generation of vibration mountings and maintenance free motors with low energy consumption and low mainte-nance with minimum of downtimes.

The new quadro plansifter is designed to comply with the highest hygience stan-

dards, is easy to operate, has minimum maintenance. The modular de-sign is constructed in stainless steel with a larges sifting area.

The basic main frame has been redesigned with an oscillating mechanism that can be attached to two to eight sections. These sections are insulated with ABS for anti-condensa-tion properties.

All components have been designed and developed with rounded recesses and profiles to stop product build up that can lead to infestation.

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BinMaster launches new website

LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, U.S. — BinMas-ter Level Controls of Lincoln, Nebraska, U.S., on Aug. 5 introduced all new content on its website (www.binmaster.com).

Information and forms are now available in both English and Spanish, reflecting Bin-Master’s growing customer and distributor base in the Central and Latin American mar-kets. For users with Smartphones, a mobile version of the new site in both Spanish and English makes the site easy to browse.

From the home page, visitors can quickly link to the BinMaster catalog of products, the latest newsletter and video highlighting the 3DLevelScanner. Customers can sign up for newsletters, get a quote or ask a question with quick links to simple forms. A literature finder helps visitors access brochures, manu-als, drawings, parts lists and application forms, while the distributor locator helps customers find a local BinMaster specialist.

The main navigation provides one click access to review information on BinMas-ter’s vast technology offerings from Smart-Bob inventory management, the 3DLevel-Scanner, and guided wave radar to rotaries, capacitance, vibrating rods, pressure and tilt switches. Plus, there are quick links to complementary bin accessories including

dust and flow detection and aeration devices. There is more in-depth information about every product offered along with newly-added photos of real-life applications. Plus, related literature and video is easy to find and can be downloaded directly from each product page.

“Our goal is to best the best supplier of

level measurement worldwide. Key to that is providing the ultimate customer service experience either in person, on the phone, or over the Internet. Improving BinMaster’s website is just one element of making it eas-ier to do business with BinMaster than any other level controls company,” said Todd Pe-terson, BinMaster’s vice-president of sales.

Kepler Weber reports record profits

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL — Kepler Weber S/A announced on Aug. 15 net profits of R$8.7 million ($3.69 million) for the sec-ond quarter, a significant increase from the R$600,000 reported for the same time pe-riod a year ago.

The company said gains in productivity, cost controls, an increase in volumes and a leveling off of seasonality contributed to the increase in profits. Gross profits were R$30.3 million, a 106.1% increase from the previous year.

Net revenues for the second quarter reflect an increase in the demand for storage, driven by funding lines and by record volumes for the harvest, the company said. Net revenues were up 75.2% in relation to the same period of 2012, adding up to R$128.8 million. As-sessing cumulative results for this year, there was 45% growth in net revenues compared to the year before.

EBITDA reached R$19.9 million (with a margin of 15.5% in relation to net rev-enues), compared to a result of R$7 mil-lion achieved in the second quarter of 2012, with a margin of 9.5%.


productShoWcaSe

Similago II roller mill

Alapala has introduced the Similago II roller mill that combines the most stringent hygiene standards together with milling precision and simple maintenance, making it one of the most versatile roller mills. It is user friendly and flex-ible, and the quick roll change module cartridge has been updated. It is available in the eight roll superimposed version with option for 250 mm or 300 mm roll diameters.

cMAXX bin vent dust collector

Imperial Systems, Inc. is now offering a bin bent configuration for the cMaXX 2 and cMaXX 4 model dust collectors. The bin vents are designed to sit on top of storage bins and silos, which eliminates ductwork and lowers installation cost. The DeltaMaXX NanoFiber Technology cartridge filters inside the bin vent provide high filtration efficiency and up to twice the regular filter life. Standard features include a safety grate, 7 and 10 gauge construction, DeltaMaXX filters, compressed air header and a tool-free filter access door.

Flite-Veyor 12 series conveyor

Sweet Manufacturing co. introduced a new Flite-Veyor 12 series horizontal flat-bottom drag conveyor, designed for capacities up to 4,000 bushels per hour (102 tph). It provides a new con-veyor option for Sweet’s Bantam, atom, apollo, Duke and Prince model Silver-Sweet bucket eleva-tors and is easy to install and maintain. It ships with preassembled trough sections to reduce installation time, features either a gear motor or v-belt drive and is made of heavy duty galvanized construction. Many options are available to tailor this conveyor to a particular application.

Microfuser Feeder

The research products company Microfuser Feeder is a volumetric feeder. Ingredient is moved down into a helix by external agitation of the Vinyl Flex hopper and then conveyed through a discharge nozzle. options include loss-in-weight scales, stands and discharge hop-pers. custom manufactured pneumatic injection systems are also available.

rGB color sorting machine

Satake’s new eVoLUTIoN RGB color sorting machine uses 16 million colors, high resolution full color cameras and long lasting patented LeD lighting to detect and remove defects in cereal grains, seeds, corn, soybeans and many other products. The eVoLUTIoN RGB works like the human eye in seeing true color, making it pos-sible to identify the smallest color deviations. Satake also offers a range of advanced color sorting systems that incorporate ccD, UV, RGB and NIR Vision technologies.

Mobile pneumatic conveyor

VIGAN Engineering S.A. (Belgium) manufac-tures a large range of equipment for handling grain and other agricultural products in bulk. Still portable, the model 200 is achieving a maximum unloading capacity of up to 250 tph, either on ship deck, on a hopper or directly at quay level; no dust emission, working only in suction and self-cleaning filter included; it is suitable for barges and coasters but also for Panamax vessels. More details are available at www.vigan.com.


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Carrs Flour Mills has ordered a complete modernization of its Sil-loth mill in Cumbria, England, at a cost of £1 million ($1.6 million).

The contract was awarded to Henry Simon, whose design will provide Carrs with the same capac-ity as the existing mill (250 tonnes of wheat per 24 hours) in half the space currently occupied.

The new mill will incorporate the latest technical advances, includ-ing the first installation of the new Mark 3 “K” rollermills, and the H2O-KAY automated grain damp-ing system.

The new plant is scheduled to produce flour in mid-1984.

Toepfer International, owned pri-marily by InTrade Group, Archer Daniels Midland Co. and Alfred C. Toepfer Verwaltungs-Gesellschaft mbH, had a successful financial showing in the fiscal year ended Nov. 30, 1982, according to figures released in Hamburg, Germany.

Toepfer International, which is engaged in worldwide trade in grain, feedstuffs, oilseeds and vege-table oils, had consolidated sales for the 1982 fiscal year totaling DM9.7 billion. The money sales figure ac-tually was down 10% from the prior year, but tonnage handled showed a slight increase over the preceding fiscal year.

1993

Peter Baker, managing director of Rank Hovis Ltd., was elected presi-dent of the National Association of British and Irish Millers. He suc-ceeds Michael Sargent.

NABIM members also elected Bob Heygate vice-president. Hey-gate is director of Heygates Ltd., a flour milling company based in Northhamptonshire.

Itochu Corp. Osaka, Japan, and Tokyo Oil Mills, Inc. have entered into an agreement with U.S.-based Riceland Foods, Inc. to produce and market rice bran oil.

Construction of new facilities to extract and process oil at Riceland’s plant site in Stuttgart, Arkansas, U.S. is under way, and operations are expected to begin in the summer of 1994.

Under the agreement, Riceland will supply rice bran and will ex-tract and process oil. Tokyo Oil Mills will supply technical assis-tance, and Itochu will market the oil in the U.S., in Japan and in interna-tional markets.

The three firms’ cash investment for new construction and equipment will total nearly $10 million.

Bühler GmbH has announced it has been awarded contracts to sup-ply flour milling equipment and systems to various companies in Romania. The total value of the contracts is $8.6 million, and the facilities are scheduled to begin op-erations in 1994.

One project consists of a com-plete wheat flour mill, with a ca-pacity of 320 tonnes per day, for Titan S.A., Bucharest, Romania. Bühler will provide machines, systems components, cleaning and grinding sections and the flour silo.

Bühler will supply equipment for a 320-tonne-per-day wheat

flour mill to Cetate Deva S.A., Deva, Romania and provide a 270-tonne-capacity system to Do-brogea S.A., Constanta, Romania. Both systems will be installed in existing buildings.

Bühler was awarded the con-tracts after lengthy negotiations with Eximpan, the Romanian ex-port trade company.

2003

After deciding the capacity was not needed, ADM Milling Co. sold its historic Pillsbury A mill to a Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.-based real estate developer, who will eventually develop the facil-ity into a housing, retail and office space complex. The mill, with daily flour milling capacity of 11,000 cwts (499 tonnes in terms of flour), was built in 1881 and is one of three ADM mills in Minneapolis.

Grainco Australia Ltd. share-holders in mid-August accepted a A$1.392 per share (92.1¢) merger offer from GrainCorp Ltd.

GrainCorp has been through an extensive program of moderniza-tion, geographic expansion and supply chain diversification, in-cluding public listing on the ASX in 1998, merger with Vicgrain in 2000 and the purchase of Allied Mills in 2002 in a joint venture with Cargill Australia.

The Budapest, Hungary-based Szabolcs Gabona Holding Rt has bought four mills and a grain silo in Kosice, Slovakia. The sale in-cluded two wheat mills, one rye mill and one maize mill with daily capacity between 170 and 240 tonnes each, and a 53,000-tonne-capacity silo.

Szabolcs Gabona operates mill-ing, baking and livestock farming subsidiaries in Romania, Ukraine and Serbia-Montenegro.

WORLD GRAIN ARCHIVE

A sophisticated hardware and software com-puter system relevant to designing and man-ufacturing flour milling equipment has now been fully installed by Thomas Robinson, the U.K. milling engineers. Using this equipment, Robinson says it can “offer products with the latest design and speedy information.”


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❏ AG Growth international ............................2❏ Alapala ....................................................33❏ Altinbilek ...............................................111❏ Amandus Kahl GmbH & Co. KG ................29❏ ASM Advanced Sorting Machines ..............92❏ Bank of the West......................................21❏ Bastak Gida Makine Medikal ..................108❏ Beall degerminator Co. ............................88❏ Behlen Mfg. Co. .......................................13❏ Brabender ................................................20❏ Brock Grain Systems .................................47❏ Buhler AG ...............................................6-7❏ Carter day ...............................................53❏ CeTeC Cereal Technologies, inc. ...............96❏ CFCAi ....................................................117❏ Chief industries, inc. ..................................3❏ Chopin Technologies ................................86❏ ConAgra Mills .....................................74-75❏ Consergra S.L. .........................................90❏ CPM Roskamp Champion .........................79❏ dAeWOn GSi Co. Ltd. ..............................67❏ denis .....................................................101❏ The essmueller Co. .................................123❏ eurogerm .................................................22❏ Filip .........................................................81❏ FLiTeCH S.r.l. ...........................................78❏ Food ingredients europe ...........................99❏ Frame ......................................................18❏ FrigorTec ................................................116❏ Fundiciones Balaguer S.A. ........................14❏ Future of Flour .........................................50❏ Genc degirmen ........................................51❏ Global industries, inc. ..............................11❏ Great Plains Analytical Laboratory.............52❏ Great Western Mfg. Co., inc. ....................19❏ The GSi Group inc. ...................................43

This index of advertisers is provided as a service to readers. The publisher does not assume any liability for errors or omissions.

❏ Hebei Pingle Flour Machinery Group Co. Ltd. ........................87

❏ Hefei Meiya Optoelectronic Technology inc. .................77

❏ Hi-Roller ..................................................15❏ iAOM Mid east and Africa ......................109❏ iMAS integrated Machinery Systems .........55❏ international Production

& Processing expo ..................................115❏ intersystems .............................................23❏ irle Kay Jay Chill Rolls Pvt. Ltd. ...............100❏ JCB Consulting Ltd. .................................88❏ Kepler Weber ...........................................35❏ Lambton Conveyor ...................................39❏ Leland industries inc. ................................82❏ Leonhard Breitenbach GmbH ..................108❏ MAG Commodiites ...................................49❏ Mathews Co. ...........................................97❏ Maxi-Lift, inc. ..........................................25❏ Mill Service Spa ......................................103❏ Mühlenchemie GmbH ....................17, 62-63❏ Mulmix Facco s.r.l. ...................................95❏ Muyang Group .........................................89❏ MYSiLO Grain Storage Systems Co. ..........59❏ nabim .....................................................64❏ neuero ....................................................65❏ OBiAL ......................................................41❏ Ocrim S.p.A. ............................................27

More information about these advertisers can be found on www.World-Grain.com. Go to the Buyer’s Guide, then search by company name and click on “go.” This will bring up contact details for that company, including active links to its email address and company web site. Clicking on the company’s “Products & Services” link will take you to a list of the company’s products and also includes a description of the company’s services and activities.

on the web

❏ Omas Srl ..................................................83❏ Perten instruments AB ..............................90❏ Pfeuffer GmbH .........................................15❏ Polen Gida ...............................................37❏ Prive S.A. ...............................................102❏ PTM Technology .......................................80❏ ReMBe GmbH ........................................116❏ The Rice Trader .........................................91❏ Rüter Maschinen GmbH & Co. KG...........106❏ Sangati Berga ........................................105❏ Satake .....................................................73❏ SCAFCO Corp. ........................................124❏ Sefar Filtration .........................................69❏ Selis Ltd. Str. ............................................61❏ Silos Cordoba...........................................57❏ STiF .........................................................45❏ Suncue Co Ltd. ........................................60❏ Symaga ....................................................16❏ Tapco, inc. .................................................9❏ Tornum AB ...............................................72❏ Ugur Machine industry .............................93❏ Vibronet ...................................................56❏ Vigan engineering S.A. ..............................4❏ Vortex Valves north America ...................113❏ Walinga inc. ..........................................112❏ Westeel ....................................................71❏ World Grain ...........................................118❏ Yenar .....................................................119

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