The Oilseed & Grain Trade Summit will address challenges and solutions

Concurrent track sessions at the 10^th annual Oilseed & Grain Trade Summit in Minneapolis will address critical challenges and viable solutions that pertain to feeding a growing population where demand for animal protein is soaring, utilization of oilseeds and grains is morphing, and the inadequacies in global transportation infrastructure persists.
The conference to be held Sept. 30 - Oct. 2 will feature three tracks: Animal Protein, Oilseed & Grains Utilization, and Global Trade Logistics. Key industry experts who will conduct the presentations include:

• Rob Murphy, senior vice president of livestock at Informa Economics, Inc.
• William Messina, Jr., agricultural economist from the University of Florida/IFAS
• Jim Wiesemeyer, senior vice president of Informa Economics, Inc.
• David Dzisiak, commercial leader grains and oils at Dow AgroSciences
• Ron Gray, past chairman (2015) of the U.S. Grains Council
• Matt Ammermann, commodity risk manager for CIS/Black Sea Region at INTL FCStone

Central to addressing overarching supply chain and logistics issues, along with timely sector outlooks, the following questions will be answered at the Oilseed & Grain Trade Summit:

• What are the top seven consumer food trends affecting the oilseed and grains sectors today?
• Who are the winners and losers over the next 12 months in the beef, pork and poultry sectors?
• What are the innovative and sustainable water practices currently employed by major industry players?
• What are the key pricing trends for both ocean bulk and containers out of major origin markets?
• What does the growing demand for fish protein derived from aquaculture mean for the oilseed and grain sector as suppliers of ingredients for feed?
• What impact might the infrastructure investments in the Panama and Suez canals have on global oilseed and grain trade?
• How specific risk management tools can be leveraged to reduce risk and enhance margin generation at different points along the supply chain?

The Oilseed & Grain Trade Summit, with participation from Informa Economics, is the largest annual industry event that convenes buyers, sellers, and global leaders in the oilseed, protein meals, vegetable oils, and feed grains sectors.

Some Russia farmers switching to corn, oilseeds

Farmers in Russia's Black Earth region are planning to plant more corn and oilseeds in the 2013–2014 season in the hopes of higher profits, according to reports.
Corn typically gives bigger yields in the area’s soils than in the south, and has a ready market in the livestock farms in the vicinity, said Oleg Sukhanov, an analyst at the Moscow-based Institute for Agricultural Market Studies. Corn yields in the Belgorod region were 6.2 metric tons per hectare this season, compared with about 5 metric tons per hectare in the southern Stavropol region, according to the regions’ agricultural ministries.
Russia’s corn crop was 8 million metric tons in 2012, beating the previous record of 7 million metric tons in 2011, according to state statistics data. Russia may be the seventh-largest corn exporter in the 2012–2013 season, after the U.S., Argentina, Brazil, Ukraine, India and South Africa, shipping 2.3 million metric tons, 13 percent more than in the 2011–2012 season, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates.

Argentina orders oilseed strike suspension

Argentina's government has ordered union leaders to suspend a planned pay strike by oilseed-crushing workers in the grains export hub of Rosario and hold talks with bosses, according to reports.
High inflation has made labor protests more frequent in the South American country, the world's number one exporter of soyoil and soymeal and the third-biggest supplier of uncrushed soybeans. Union leader Pablo Reguera has said that his members will respect the government's decision.
Compulsory conciliation forces strikers to go back to work for 15 days initially. If no deal is reached at the end of the two weeks, the government can order an extension.

ADM expands with India oilseed processing factories

Archer Daniels Midland Co. has expanded with the purchase of two oilseeds processing factories in India, according to reports.
The Kota facility has soy processing capabilities that enable it to supply soy oil directly to the northern Indian market. It also can crush, refine and package rapeseed. The Akola facility has soybean crushing, refining and packaging capabilities that will let ADM produce vegetable oil and meal for food and animal feed markets. The company has also opened a new headquarters office near New Delhi.

UK wheat, oilseed yield forecast lower for 2011

Oilseed rape in bloom.

The UK’s wheat and oilseed rape yield is likely to be significantly down from the country’s five-year average, according to a survey conducted between May and June by the National Farmers Union.
With poor growing conditions, particularly in the east of the UK, results suggest that the average English wheat yield in 2011 will be down by 14% to around 6.5 metric tons per hectare, which would rank among the lowest since the late 1980s.
Area planted is currently thought to be similar to last year, but wheat production in England in 2011 may be much lower due to severe drought pressure on crops this spring. Based on analysis of these farmer estimates, production could be down from the five-year average by around 2 million metric tons to below 12 million metric tons, or 15% below the average of 13.74 million metric tons.
Winter oilseed rape appears to be in a slightly stronger position than cereals, with farmers forecasting English yields at 3.1 metric tons per hectare, 9% down on the five-year average of 3.4 metric tons per hectare. Plantings are believed to be significantly up on the five-year average, indicating a potential production of 2.082 million metric tons against the five-year average of 1.762 million metric tons in England.

Animal feed equipment, technology suppliers partner on renewable energy

CPM, a supplier of process equipment and technology for the animal feed, oilseed, biofuels and human food-processing industries, and Pellet Technology LLC announce the formation of a strategic alliance that will help bring sustainable, renewable energy to electric utilities and biofuels producers.
Pellet Technology has developed a complete supply chain solution for biomass users that includes feedstock supply contracting, harvest management and production technology to turn corn stover into PowerPellets on an economic and environmentally sound basis, according to the company. Under the agreement, the two companies will work together to market Pellet Technology’s biomass engineering processes along with CPM’s hammermills and pellet mills. Together, they plan to implement a “field-to-fuel” program that provides electric utilities and biofuels producers with an affordable and reliable source of renewable energy.

DDG futures now available for trading

Distillers’ Dried Grain (DDG) futures are available for trading on CME Globex, the CME Group electronic trading platform. DDG futures may bring much-needed price discovery and price transparency to the market. Particularly, they may help customers better manage their price risk in the feed, livestock, dairy, biofuels, grains and oilseed industries.