Glencore Agriculture, the $600m upstart knocking at the door of the food-trading elite
Chris Mahoney, head of the commodities giant’s agri arm, reckons he is close to breaking, or at least disrupting, the 100-year dominance of the so-called ABCD firms
Rotterdam — Dockside in Rotterdam, the European logistics ace for Glencore Agriculture gives up trying to remember all the workers and contractors who made it possible to fill a 30-wagon train with soybean meal from Argentina. "Lots of them," Hajo Barth finally says as a loader dumps a scoop onto the conveyor feeding one of the wagons, which weighs 56 metric tonnes. It has been two months since Glencore sent the India-flagged bulk carrier Jag Arya up the Parana, South America’s second-longest river, for loading at its massive Argentinian crushing facility in Timbues. In another week, a transatlantic supply chain that stretches 12,000km will terminate at a railway junction inside the Czech Republic. The whole process highlights how close Glencore, the Swiss commodities giant best known for its metals and oil operations, has come to joining the food-trading elite. It is seeking to break the century-long dominance of the industry held by the so-called ABCD quartet — Archer-Daniels-Midl...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.