Glencore Agriculture held its first Global Market Forum in October last year and given the market potential in Asia, chose Singapore as the host city.
The event had more than 80 key customers from across Asia attending from countries including China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
Philip Hughes, Glencore Agriculture, General Manager Trading, presented to the group providing insight into Australia’s production trends and the benefits of sourcing grain from Australia.
“Asia represents an expanding opportunity for Australian grain,” Philip said.
“China, Indonesia and Japan are some of our biggest markets and countries such as Korea, Philippines and Vietnam have a lot of potential.
“Our customers in this region are very important and it was an opportunity to discuss market trends and how Glencore Agriculture is adapting to these changes to ensure grain is meeting customer needs.”
Tim Krause, Viterra General Manager presented an overview of Viterra’s network of assets and its capability for storing, handling and shipping grain in both bulk and containers. He also highlighted Viterra’s quality management systems that ensure the grain meets high standards of food safety and the exact quality specifications of the buyer.
Philip said these customers valued the opportunity to spend time with key people within Glencore Agriculture.
“They appreciated talking about what the future holds for the industry and to ask questions of us,” he said.
“It was an opportunity to discuss market trends and how Glencore Agriculture is adapting to these changes to ensure grain is meeting customer needs.”
Following the Singapore forum, some customers took the opportunity to visit Victoria and South Australia to see how Glencore Agriculture and Viterra meet the increasingly high standards required by end-use markets.
One of the world’s largest beer manufacturers, Snow Brewery and large feed grain buyers, Haid and Xiamen C&D, both from China; one of the largest Japanese trading houses Marubeni; as well as a miller from Myanmar visited upcountry, port and laboratory facilities. They also visited growers on-farm to learn more about quality control, quality management and food safety, seasonal conditions and where the grain is grown.
“In a highly competitive market where customers can source grain from anywhere in the world, it is important to show we can meet the increasingly high standards required by end-use markets,” Philip said.