World Grain - October 2011 - 22

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Cargill opens grain silo in Drobeta Turnu Severin
DROBETA TURNU SEVERIN, ROMANIA — Cargill has inaugurated its newly-acquired grain silo in Drobeta Turnu Severin, in South-Western Romania, the company announced on Sept. 28. The silo was ofﬁcially opened by Martin Schuldt, head of Cargill’s business in Romania. Cargill has been active in the Romanian grain and oilseed industry since 1996. Since then, the company has made a number of signiﬁcant investments and today employs about 750 people in the country. The Drobeta silo, reactivated for the ﬁrst time since 1999, will contribute to Cargill’s existing operations by extending the company’s current supply network and coverage in Romania and abroad. In addition, its storage volume of 44,000 tonnes will increase Cargill’s operational silo capacity in Romania by 8% and will help connect grain from Western Romania to new markets, through the unit’s proximity to the Danube River. “This silo represents another step forward in our collaboration with Romanian grain and oilseed farmers,” said Martin Schuldt, head of Cargill’s business in Romania. “The strategic position of our silo in Drobeta will help both Cargill and our trusted partners in Western Romania to increase our businesses, maximize our outputs and shape new opportunities. The silo undertook an intensive modernization program to comply with the highest operational, environmental and safety standards. This has required signiﬁcant investment from our company and the result has been entirely successful. It further facilitates our ability to be a reliable and trusted buyer, storer and mover of crops for our partners in Romania.”

World wheat production up in September
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S. — World wheat production in 2011-12 is forecast at 678.1 million tonnes, up 6 million from a month earlier, according to the Wheat Outlook released on Sept. 14 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (ERS). The largest increase is for Canada, where the wheat crop is forecast up 2.5 million tonnes to 24 million in September based on an almost 7% (0.55 million hectares) rise in wheat area, and a 4% increase in yields. Despite many convincing signs of a substantial reduction of seeded wheat area in Saskatchewan and Manitoba due to persistent rains that severely disrupted ﬁeldwork in May and June, wheat area to be harvested turned out larger than anticipated and is up 3.4% for the year. Growing conditions in August were very favorable in the main wheat-producing regions in the Prairies, as well as in Ontario, with no early frosts in key growing areas and warm temperatures helping to dry out soggy soil. E.U. wheat production is expected to reach 135.8 million tonnes in 2011-12, up 2.3 million this month. Wheat harvesting of the 2011-12 crop is virtually complete, but statistical ofﬁces in individual countries continue to compile and revise wheat production numbers. Wheat production is expected to be higher in Ukraine, up 1 million tonnes to 22 million, as indicated by the latest harvest reports. The wheat production forecast is up 200,000 tonnes for both Morocco and Brazil, to 6.1 million and 5 million, respectively. World wheat supplies for 2011-12 are projected up this month by 7.6 million tonnes to a new record of 871.5 million, more than 20 million tonnes higher than the previous year. This increase is a result of both higher projected wheat production and wheat beginning stocks. World wheat beginning stocks for 2011-12 increased 1.6 million tonnes this month, mainly because of Canadian revisions for the 2010-11 marketing year. World wheat ending stocks for 2011-12 are projected to reach 194.6 million tonnes, up 5.7 million this month, 1.3 million higher than in 2010-11. Foreign ending stocks are up 3.3 million tonnes, up 4 million tonnes on the year and the largest since 2001-02.

ACCC decision paves way for port access
WEST PERTH, AUSTRALIA — The CBH Group said it welcomes the announcement on Sept. 28 by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) regarding access arrangements at its port terminals in Western Australia. In its decision the ACCC commented that it considers CBH’s current access arrangements to have successfully allowed access to the co-operative’s port terminal services by wheat exporters and that it is appropriate for those existing arrangements to continue. The ACCC also acknowledged that the existing auction system for allocating capacity at CBH ports has promoted competition amongst wheat exporters in Western Australia, which has beneﬁted farmers and the export industry. CBH has agreed to continue with its existing auction arrangements after the ACCC raised concerns about a two-tiered capacity allocation scheme. CBH also welcomed the ACCC’s acknowledgement that the option remains open for CBH to provide further information to ease the ACCC’s concerns about the baseload port capacity allocation system proposed by the company in its original undertaking proposal. The accepted undertaking applies from October to September 2014.
For more information, see Page 106.

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