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On Behalf of Parantez Publishing and

Congress Ltd., Owner
Zübeyde Kavraz

Responsible Manager
Muhammed Akatay

Editor-in-Chief
Namık Kemal PARLAK editor
Namık Kemal Parlak

Editors
Mustafa Yağmurlu
Cemalettin Kanaş
Reshaping the global grain industry amid pandemic
Sales and Marketing
Ahmet Açıkgöz
Inji Aydash
As concerns grow for the COVID-19 pandemic, food security and
Burcu Çetin supplies of staple grains have become a global focus. Despite sufficient
global supplies, several key exporters have put in place various forms of
Art Director and Visual Design
Alparslan Murat Aysu trade restrictions. The pandemic has shown up as global trade wars al-
ready going on and it particularly has affected the global supply chains.
Corporate Communication Executive
Burak Yalçın
Ahmet Hamdi Annaç Everyone in the food and grain industry is curious about the effects
Consultancy Board of the pandemic on supply, demand and consumption. In this time of
Ali İhsan Özkaşıkçı, Chairman of AUSD uncertainty, the need for accurate information and forward-looking vi-
Mesut Çakmak, Chairman of GUSAD
sionary analysis increased even more. These questions were answered
Erhan Özmen, GUSAD Honorary Chairman
Bekir Bağış, Chairman of Çukurova Flour Industrialists Association at the digital conference organized by the International Grains Council
Hasan Özmermer, Board Member of Özmermer Flour (IGC). While most events in the industry were delayed or canceled, IGC
Derviş Toprak
Mehmet Şerif Gültay tried to guide the industry through virtual conference.

Referee and Scientific Advisory Board

Prof. Dr. Mustafa Bayram
The virtual conference comprises 13 sessions, 64 re-recorded video
Prof. Gustavo Sosa presentations, 39 PowerPoint presentations, 13 Q&A sessions on differ-
Prof. Dr. Hazım Özkaya ent themes including stimulating globalısation of the grains sector, poli-
Asst. Prof. M. Kürşat Demir
Asst. Prof. Halef Dizlek cy initiatives to promote globalization, climate change and integration in
Asst. Prof. Harun Dıraman the grains value chain, trade finance and the latest grains, oilseeds and
Asst. Prof. Mustafa Erbaş
rice market developments.
Publication Type
Periodic (Monthly)
The speakers discussed the outlook for grain supply and demand and
Printing - Baskı how to promote the globalization of the grains trade. They tried to an-
İhlas Gazetecilik A.Ş. swer the questions that arise for the grain supply and demand outlook
Merkez Mah. 29 Ekim Cad. No: 11 A 41
Yenibosna-Bahçelievler-İstanbul as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tel: 0212 454 30 00
Speaking to Miller Magazine on the IGC’s first digital conference, Ar-
naud Petit, Executive Director of the International Grains Council (IGC),
said that having a virtual conference and keeping an international au-
dience was the real challenge but they are satisfied by the number of
millermagazine
attendees. “The IGC’s conference is unique in providing a broad plat-
form of discussions between the public and the private sectors. A good
company/millermagazine
dialogue allows the global food system to be dynamic and address the
millermagazine new challenges.”

Parantez Publishing and Congress Ltd.

All the videos, PowerPoint presentations and Q&A sessions will be
Gökevler Mah. 2312 Sok. No:16/37 accessible until December 2020. During these times of uncertainty fol-
Ginza Corner Plaza, Esenyurt / İstanbul - TURKEY lowing the COVID-19 pandemic, the virtual conference provided a plat-
T. +90 212 347 31 64 F. +90 212 212 02 04
www.millermagazine.com
form to discuss the next steps to ensure the development of global
info@millermagazine.com grain trade.
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ISSN 1309-6125
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Contents
Adjustment and maintenance
of the milling plant 48 16 Emerging data suggest
COVID-19 is driving up hunger
in vulnerable countries
Cover Story

News
18 ADM’s key grain-export terminal
repairs delayed
Ukrainian grain
becomes more
competitive on To feed a world in crisis, scientists
international market 20 push for greater collaboration
Interview

62 Nikolay Gorbachov

Virtual IGC conference

provides a platform
22 Bühler GO!2020 highlights
collaborative innovation in the
to address the new food industry
challenges in grain sector
Interview

68 Arnaud Petit 28 LDC adds venture capital unit,

new innovation head

Diorit four-roller
mill now also with
longitudinally split
30 G3 celebrates opening of two
elevators in Alberta

72
Article

Nicholas Trounce

IGC raises forecast for 2020/21

34 world wheat production

Happy new year 88

Market Analysis

46 FAO and Rabobank to work for

more sustainable food systems
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 NEWS
Emerging data suggest COVID-19 is driving up
hunger in vulnerable countries
The world stands on the brink of a food crisis worse than any seen for at least 50 years, the
UN has warned as it urged governments to act swiftly to avoid disaster.
Initial and ongoing assessments by the UN's Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO) provide strong in-
dications that the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts
are driving up hunger in countries that were already
experiencing high levels of food insecurity prior to the
disease's outbreak. "The COVID-19 pandemic poses a
clear and present danger to food security and nutrition,
especially to the world's most vulnerable communities"
FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said at the opening
of a high-level UN event on humanitarian action.
The Director-General told the virtual event that while
assessments were taking place at country level as on-
going agricultural seasons unfolded, the impact of CO-
VID-19 was already being seen in some of the world's
food crisis hotspots.
Recent data from the FAO-hosted Integrated Food
Security Phase Classification (IPC) initiative indicates
that in Afghanistan, food insecurity -- already alar-
mingly high -- has now been aggravated by the impa-
ct of coronavirus. The latest estimates show that 10.3
16
million people there are now dealing with crisis levels
of acute hunger or worse. The trend is similar in the
Central African Republic, where about 2.4 million pe-
ople are now facing crisis or worse levels of acute food
insecurity -- an 11 percent increase compared with
pre-pandemic times, according to the IPC. In Somalia,
3.5 million people are projected to face crisis or worse
in the coming months - three times the number at the
start of the year.
"We risk a looming food crisis unless measures are
taken fast to protect the most vulnerable, keep the
global agricultural supply chains alive, and mitigate the
pandemic's impacts across the food system," the FAO
Director-General said.
ANOTHER 183 MILLION AT RISK OF
BEING PUSHED INTO EXTREME HUNGER
FAO and other UN agencies are concerned that CO-
VID-19's multiple impacts on economic activity and
supply chains are limiting people's ability to access
MILLER / JULY 2020
 NEWS

food, increasingly restricting the cash liquidity of far-

mers, and handicapping farmers' ability to produce and
market food -- which in the longer term could seriously
degrade their livelihoods.
Before the pandemic, 135 million people worldwi-
de were already coping with acute hunger caused by
conflict, climate shocks, and economic downturns, ac-
cording to the 2020 edition of the Global Report on
Food Crises, produced by FAO, the European Union
and 13 other partners. Another 183 million were at risk
of being pushed into extreme hunger if faced with an
additional stressor.
Maximo Torero, the chief economist of the UN Food
and Agriculture Organization, said the world’s food
systems were under threat as never before in recent
times, as the pandemic and lockdowns hampered pe-
ople’s ability to harvest and buy and sell food. “We
need to be careful,” he said. “This is a very different lems, and in the meat industry plants have been forced
food crisis than the ones we have seen.” to close in some countries.
Even before the lockdowns, the global food system
LOCKDOWNS ARE SLOWING HARVESTS was failing in many areas, according to the UN. The
Harvests are healthy and supplies of staple foods such report pointed to conflict, natural disasters, the clima-
as grains are “robust”, according to the UN report on te crisis, and the arrival of pests and plant and animal
the impact of Covid-19 on food security and nutrition. plagues as existing problems. East Africa, for instance,
But most people get their food from local markets, whi- is facing the worst swarms of locusts for decades, whi-
ch are vulnerable to disruption from lockdowns. Incre- le heavy rain is hampering relief efforts.The additional
asing unemployment and the loss of income associated impact of the coronavirus crisis and lockdowns, and the
with lockdowns are also putting food out of reach for resulting recession, would compound the damage and
many struggling people. Though global markets have tip millions into dire hunger, experts warned.
remained steady, the price of basic foods has begun to As part of the revised UN Humanitarian Appeal for
rise in some countries. COVID-19, FAO has asked for $350 million to sup-
Lockdowns are slowing harvests, while millions of se- port a range of activities aimed at helping poor farmers
asonal labourers are unable to work. Food waste has continue to operate, safeguard the continuity of food
reached damaging levels, with farmers forced to dump supply chains and markets, and prevent the food sector
perishable produce as the result of supply chain prob- from being a vector of transmission for the disease.

MILLER / JULY 2020 17

 NEWS
ADM’s key grain-export
terminal repairs delayed
Repairs to ADM's terminal in Reserve, Louisi-
ana, damaged more than a year ago, will not
be completed until early 2021 as high water
conditions have impacted the construction
schedule.
Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., one of the top agricultural
commodity traders, said one of its key U.S. grain-export
terminals won’t be back online until next year after work
to repair the facility was delayed, Bloomberg reports.
Construction at the Reserve terminal in Louisiana, one
of the three ADM owns in the Gulf of Mexico region, will
be completed in early 2021, the company said in response
to Bloomberg’s questions. Repairs were needed after a
third party vessel collision damaged the facility last year.
“High water conditions have impacted the construction
time line at our export terminal in Reserve,” ADM said. “We
informed customers several months ago that we expect the
Wheat and barley malt syrup added to Cargill’s
label-friendly sweetener options
Minimally processed SweetPure™ delivers balanced sweetness for European bakery and ce-
real applications.
Consumers increasingly demand more from the foods
they consume, embracing products made with familiar and
minimally processed ingredients. To help food manufactu-
rers deliver on these expectations, Cargill has launched Swe-
etPure™ M Wheat and Barley Malt Syrup, a label-friendly,
unrefined sweetener developed for ba-
kery, snack bar and cereal applications.
“We live in the age of mindful consu-
mers, who want to know all about the
food they buy, including how the ingre-
dients are grown and processed,” said
Phillippe Chouvy, Cargill’s business de-
velopment manager for sweeteners in
Europe. “Food manufacturers need simple ingredients that
address the needs of these label-conscious consumers.”
SweetPure, which labels simply as wheat and barley malt
syrup, fits those demands to a tee. Cargill’s proprietary re-
search suggests consumers view wheat and barley malt as
familiar ingredients, ranking them positively. Adding to its
appeal, the unrefined syrup meets ISO natural definition.
As the syrup is unrefined, it has a light grainy taste and
18
repairs to be complete in early 2021, and we remain on track
to have the terminal back online during that time frame.”
The delay means ADM’s Reserve terminal will miss
some key months for the American crop-cargo season,
with most U.S. soybeans exported from November throu-
gh January. Gulf ports usually ship about 2 billion bushels
a year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
ADM has two other export elevators in the Gulf regi-
on as well as facilities in Texas and the Pacific Northwest
“to help us manage export volumes,” the company said,
adding that the facilities handle soybeans and other agri-
culture products including corn and wheat.
pale-yellow color that pairs well with most bakery, snack
bar and cereal flavor profiles. While it functions similarly
to high maltose syrups in formulations, its straightforward
ingredient description and minimally processed nature ap-
peals to consumers. Beyond its label-friendly credentials,
SweetPure is only 25-40 percent as sweet
as sugar, depending on the concentration.
“Given its mid-range sweetness, SweetPure
can be used to formulate baked goods and
cereal products with more balanced sweet-
ness or as a first step towards reduced-su-
gar formulation to meet the needs of he-
alth-focused consumers,” added Chouvy.
“SweetPure represents an important addition to our al-
ready extensive nature-derived sweetener portfolio, which
includes full-, mid- and no-calorie solutions,” said Ann Die-
rickx, Cargill’s sweetener product line manager in Europe.
“Combined with our application, formulation and technical
expertise in bakery and cereals, we’re now even better po-
sitioned to support our customers’ needs, whether it’s for
reformulation or new product development projects.”
MILLER / JULY 2020
 NEWS
To feed a world in crisis, scientists push
for greater collaboration
Collaboration among scientists to transform food, land and water systems will be key to
feeding the world in the face of climate change, COVID-19 and other challenges, says the
world’s largest agricultural research network.
CGIAR, a global partnership with almost 50 years’
experience in agricultural research for development,
argues that fragmentation of the research agenda into
single commodities and other pieces of the problem has
limited the potential of science to holistically transform
food systems, and advance global goals to end poverty
and hunger by 2030.
Threats to food, nutrition and water security posed by
climate change and other challenges are not new, but are
becoming increasingly complex and pressing, requiring
new approaches. The current COVID-19 pandemic risks
further setbacks – without substantial emergency relief,
140 million people could fall into extreme poverty, po-
tentially increasing hunger and malnutrition for millions.
In a virtual meeting of the CGIAR System Council
in June, the organization moved ahead on plans to
unify the governance and operations of its multiple
research centers and programs under the umbrella of
‘One CGIAR’, with the aim of supporting collaborative
science that can have the greatest impact on the wor-
ld’s most vulnerable.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to the most
drastic economic consequences in living memory. CGIAR
is at the forefront of assessing short-term shocks, reco-
very efforts, and then ways of building back better, says
Marco Ferroni, Chair of the CGIAR System Management
Board. “We are ready to deliver multi-dimensional, mul-
20
ti-sectoral research for development assistance to those
most in need of innovation and transformative solutions
on the ground.”
As One CGIAR, scientific innovations for food, land
and water systems – providing more sustainable ways to
grow, catch, transport, process, trade and consume food
– will be able to be deployed faster, at a larger scale, and
at reduced cost, having greater impact where they are
needed most.
Priority areas for collaboration identified by the
network’s revised research strategy include nutrition
and food security; poverty reduction, livelihoods and
jobs; gender equality, youth and social inclusion; climate
adaptation and greenhouse gas reduction; and environ-
mental health and biodiversity.
In addition, a united CGIAR has mounted a food sys-
tems response to COVID-19, recognizing the need for
rapid and science-based efforts for response, recovery
and resilience. Building back better – not returning to
business as usual following the COVID-19 crisis – is a
priority, with action already being taken to provide data
that can guide donor investments, support health sys-
tems with testing facilities, and promote a One Health
approach to prevent or contain future zoonosis outb-
reaks. An inclusive and consultative process is ongoing
to guide the continued transition to One CGIAR, with
phased roll-out expected by 2021.
MILLER / JULY 2020
 NEWS

Outside view of
Bühler’s brand-new
Food Application
Center in Minneapolis.

Bühler GO!2020 highlights collaborative innovation

in the food industry
Together with its customers and partners, Bühler is supporting the evolution to a sustainable
food industry. Bühler GO!2020 further strengthens Bühler’s collaborative approach to to-
day’s challenges for the food industry, by bringing together more than 500 leaders of food
companies, academia, industry associations, government organizations, and start-ups.

From June 15-19, 2020, Bühler hosted Bühler
GO!2020. This virtual networking and engagement
event supports Bühler’s efforts to build and strengt-
hen an industry-wide collaborative network of food
industry leaders, addressing global nutritional challen-
ges such as sustainability, food security, and feeding 10
billion people by 2050. Discussing and exploring latest
food trends, such as alternative proteins and ancient
grains with US and worldwide customers, will help en-
sure that companies have the agility and innovation
power to effectively deal with the challenges put befo-
re them. To support that, Bühler opened its brand-new
Food Application Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on
June 19. "Bühler GO!2020 is about learning together
how the food industry can meet these global challen-
ges with good sustainable businesses that create real
impact," says Andy Sharpe, CEO Bühler North America.
Together with its customers and partners, Bühler is
supporting the evolution to a sustainable food industry.
Bühler GO!2020 further strengthens Bühler’s collabo-
rative approach to today’s challenges for the food in-
dustry, by bringing together more than 500 leaders of
food companies, academia, industry associations, go-
vernment organizations, and start-ups. Culminating in
the opening of the Food Application Center in Minnea-
polis on June 19, the Bühler GO!2020 event focuses on
framing the global challenges, creating safe and trans-
parent food chains, sustainable protein supplies for 10
billion people, workforce development, and leadership.
"This new Food Application Center will be an impor-
tant resource for the North American food industry as
we focus on the future of food, reintroducing ancient
grains, peas, and lentils into our diets, and innovating
around plant-based proteins; all of this addressing the
demands of consumers as diets are changing fast," says
Stefan Scheiber, CEO at Bühler Group. “Many of the
global challenges we faced before the coronavirus have
only been intensified. Our collective situation has held
a magnifying glass to these challenges. It has shown us
where we can improve our food supply chain, and our

22 MILLER / JULY 2020

 NEWS

ability to safely and sustainably nourish our populati- innovation. The company has gone digital to support
on.” To rise to these challenges, Scheiber expects great customers in their endeavors. With digital capabilities
solutions to be developed with Bühler’s customers, “as underpinning a service portfolio increasing yield and
it is here that we can marry the highly entrepreneurial capacity, ensuring consistent product quality, providing
American spirit with the best of our Swiss heritage as a remote support and reducing unplanned downtime,
high quality solution provider for world-class products. waste, and energy consumption, Bühler can support its
This event allows us to stay in close contact and enables customers efforts to deliver the strong demand they
companies to learn best prac- experience today while secu-
tice from one another.” ring their operational results.
At the one-week-long Büh- In short, Bühler’s digital plat-
ler GO!2020, nearly 50 spea- forms, myBühler and Bühler
kers from the food-processing Insights, will support business
industries gave expert insigh- resilience by enabling phy-
ts, best practices, and inspi- sical assets to consistently
ration for its 500 attendees deliver highest performance.
hailing from 17 countries. Not “Our portfolio of digital ser-
only does the virtual event eli- vices has increased our capa-
minate travelling time, Bühler bility to support our custo-
estimates that GO!2020 saved mers through good and bad
around 400 tons of greenhou- Stefan Scheiber Andy Sharpe times and underpin industry
se gas emissions compared to CEO at Bühler CEO Bühler resilience. It is only through
a physical event, equivalent to Group North America collaboration that we, as an
the compensation output of industry, can create the nee-
16,000 trees. ded solutions to mitigate the
climate crisis,” says Ian Roberts, CTO at Bühler. Bühler
RESILIENCE AND COLLABORATION aims to reduce waste, energy, and water consumption
“We want to show our customers that they can rely in its customers’ value chains by 50% by 2025.
on us even in times of crisis, be it for new product de-
velopments, for servicing their solutions, or when di- BUHLER OPENS NEW FOOD
gitalizing their plants for the new normal we are now APPLICATION CENTER
learning to live in,” says Scheiber. Bühler GO!2020 The Food Application Center (FAC) will be the new
highlights the topics of resilience and collaborative Bühler stronghold in developing economically viable and

Inside view of the new Food Application Center. It was created to develop new food solutions such as flours,
snacks, pasta, cereals and a myriad of extruded products, including plant-based meat analogues.

MILLER / JULY 2020 23

 NEWS
sustainable food solutions in North America. The future
solutions developed there will help feed a growing popu-
lation of nearly 10 billion people in 2050. A unique ins-
tallation, the FAC is a playground for the food industry.
“Innovation remains the lifeblood for sustainable
market success, particularly in the food industry,” says
Yannick Gaechter, Director of the new FAC. “New food
opportunities are multifaceted and need to be addres-
sed with partners across the whole food value chain.
This is where the new FAC comes in,” Gaechter adds.
“With the FAC, Bühler is helping to create an innovati-
on ecosystem by providing predominantly North Ame-
rican food companies, start-ups, and academic partners
with a platform and the capabilities for creating new
products and processes that will help address – from
farm to fork, and from bean to burger – not only the
current consumer trends, but also our global nutrition
challenges in a sustainable way.”
Drawing on 160 years of food processing expertise,
the new FAC was created as a platform for developing
new ways to transform peas, beans, corn, pulses, oats,
ancient grains, and many other crops into new food
solutions such as flours, snacks, pasta, cereals, and a
myriad of extruded products, including plant-based
BUHLER PRESENTS CHOCOX AT VIRTUAL SHOW
During Bühler GO!2020, the company pre-
sents ChocoX, a new highly flexible, modular
solution for chocolate moulding. Following a
“plug-and-produce” concept, the new moulding
line, ChocoX (pronounced “Choco Cross”) marks
a breakthrough in the industry with its consistent-
ly modular approach. ChocoX can be installed on
24
meat analogues.
With the goal of building a highly interconnected in-
novation ecosystem, Bühler expects that the FAC will
become an important resource for the North American
food industry as it focuses on the future of food and
learns to build a more resilient, agile and sustainable
food supply chain.
Learning and education is at the core of the FAC.
Bühler views the new facility as a place for instructing
and understanding technology, food processing, food
safety, digitalization, and many other topics. The in-
vestment in the FAC further reinforces Bühler's commit-
ment to new and innovative approaches to education
and workforce development, most notably, the com-
pany's internationally recognized apprenticeship prog-
ram, which will use the FAC as an educational base. Ad-
ditionally, the FAC will act as a training ground for food
processing companies wanting to educate their opera-
tions and maintenance staff on efficient processing and
best practices. "The new FAC stands ready to welcome
innovative food processors and other interested orga-
nizations, to collaborate, create, and perfect new and
sustainable food products as we all address the quickly
changing demands of consumers' diets," says Gaechter.
site within a week, reducing implementation time
by 80%. ChocoX slashes the time for a line expan-
sion by half, compared to previous solutions. Its
modular structure allows for great flexibility. Mo-
dules can be changed or cleaned in as little as 30
minutes, and rearranging the process chain only
takes between 30 to 120 minutes.
MILLER / JULY 2020
 NEWS
Dieter Vögtli has passed away on June 5,
due to a short but major illness. Dieter
Vögtli headed the global Service & Sales
organization of the company.
Change in the Group Management of Bühler
Samuel Schär to take over responsibility of the global Service and Sales organization of
Bühler, in addition to his current function as CEO of the Advanced Materials business.
Bühler’s Executive Board member Dieter Vögtli has
passed away on June 5, due to a short but major ill-
ness. Dieter Vögtli headed the global Service & Sales
(SAS) organization of the company and was previously
responsible for Bühler’s business in Asia. “We lose a
great entrepreneur, a powerful leader, and a very close
friend,” says Stefan Scheiber, CEO at Bühler Group. Sa-
muel Schär, in addition to his current function as CEO of
Bühler’s Advanced Materials business, has taken over
the responsibilities as head of the SAS organization.
Dieter Vögtli, a mechanical engineer who graduated
from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zu-
rich (ETHZ), started his career as a global power plant
commissioning engineer at the Swiss-based Brown
Boveri Co. He joined Bühler in 2004, first as country
head China, and from 2009 onwards also as head of
Bühler Group Asia Pacific. With his entrepreneurial
attitude and deep market understanding, combined
with strong empathy for customers and employees, he
was fundamental to the success and growth of Bühler
over the past 16 years, especially in Asia. In his functi-
ons, Dieter Vögtli has also served as a member of the
Bühler Group Executive Board. After handing over his
responsibilities to his successor in Asia, he relocated
with his family back to Switzerland in 2018. Dieter
Vögtli passionately cared for his customers, employe-
26
Samuel Schär has taken over the responsibilities
as head of the global SAS organization, in
addition to his current function as CEO of the
Advanced Materials business.
es and for the Bühler company. “Through this, he has
created a great reputation for Bühler and for himself.
We are ever thankful to Dieter Vögtli for his 16 years
of service to the company. Our thoughts are with his
wife and family,” says Stefan Scheiber.
Samuel Schär has assumed
responsIbIlItIes as head of ServIce & Sales
Samuel Schär has taken over the responsibilities as
head of the global SAS organization, in addition to his
current function as CEO of the Advanced Materials
business. This internal succession solution had been
in preparation for a longer time. Samuel Schär gra-
duated as a physics engineer from the Swiss Federal
Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and joined
Bühler in 2002. He took charge of the then newly
founded Nanotechnology Business Unit in 2005 and
was later responsible for the Business Area Grinding
& Dispersing. In 2013, Samuel Schär was promoted to
Bühler's Executive Board as the CEO of the Advanced
Materials business. “We consider ourselves fortunate
to ensure continuity for our important global Service
and Sales organization with Samuel Schär, who is a
very successful and experienced member of our team.
We wish him the best of success in this new role,”
says CEO Scheiber.
MILLER / JULY 2020
 NEWS
LDC adds venture capital unit, new innovation head
Louis Dreyfus Company launched its corporate venture capital program, ‘LDC Innovations’,
as an essential element in LDC’s strategic plans to reinforce its position as a key value chain
participant.
Agricultural commodities trader Louis Dreyfus Com-
pany (LDC) has launched a venture capital programme
to invest in food and farming firms while also announ-
cing a change of head for its innovation business, Reu-
ters reports.
“This program is another positive step in our strate-
gic growth plans, as part of which we are investing in
innovations and technologies that can help meet inc-
reasing global demand for healthy, nutritious products
that are responsibly sourced and produced. Over the
coming months, we will invest in early-stage companies
with the potential to transform the food and agricultu-
re industries,” Chief Executive Ian McIntosh said in a
statement.
The venture capital initiative, called LDC Innovati-
ons, will be part of LDC’s innovation and downstream
division. The group said it was too early to comment on
the potential budget of the unit.
Dreyfus is the “D” of the so-called ‘ABCD’ quartet of
global commodity traders that includes Archer Daniels
Midland Co (ADM.N), Bunge Ltd (BG.N) and Cargill
Inc. Like its peers, it has been looking further down the
food chain in response to declining profits in trading
and shipping crops. It is also considering bringing out-
side investors into the family-controlled group.
LDC Innovations will be led by Max Clegg, who has
held business development and innovation roles at the
group in North America since 2012. The overall innova-
tion and downstream business will be headed by Tho-
28
mas Couteaudier, who will assume the role in addition
to his existing responsibilities as Head of South & Sout-
heast Asia Region, LDC said.
‘LDC OUT-PERFORMED ITS GLOBAL
REDUCTION TARGETS’
Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) published its 2019
Sustainability Report, highlighting significant prog-
ress in its environmental performance, reinforced go-
vernance of key issues, and positive strides for supply
chain transparency.  The company reported that it had
exceeded its year-on-year reduction goals for all four
of its key performance indicators. These include CO2
emissions (down 11%), electricity and energy con-
sumption (down 10%), water usage (down 14%) and
solid waste sent to landfills (down 57%).
“In 2019, we significantly out-performed global
annual reduction targets across all our environmental
metrics, thanks to investments in modern equipment,
efficiency savings and process improvements around
the world. This puts us back on track to meet our global
goals to reduce each indicator by 5% between 2018
and 2022. As a leading industry player, it is essential
for LDC to help reduce the environmental impact of our
sector,” continued Mr. McIntosh.
Louis Dreyfus Company is a leading merchant and
processor of agricultural goods. LDC is active in over
100 countries and employs approximately 18 000 pe-
ople globally.
MILLER / JULY 2020
 NEWS
COFCO International appoints Zhaohui Da as CFO
COFCO International has appointed Zhaohui (Ch-
risty) Da as CFO of the company effective immedia-
tely. Ms Da, who will be based at the company’s hea-
dquarters in Geneva, Switzerland,
served as COFCO International
Board Director since July 2017
until June 2020. She joins COFCO
International as CFO from COF-
CO Corporation, the company’s
main shareholder, where her most
recent position was Chief Audit
Officer COFCO Group.
Ms Da joined COFCO Corpo-
ration in 1994 and has since held
various finance leadership roles
Zhaohui Da across COFCO Group companies
G3 celebrates
opening of two
elevators in
Alberta
Canadian grain export company G3 announced the
official opening of two state-of-the art export facility in
Alberta. G3 Morinville and G3 Carmangay feature the
same high-efficiency infrastructure as G3’s other new
elevators in Western Canada. Trucks unload in minutes
and trains of up to 150 cars are quickly loaded on loop
tracks, keeping grain moving to port.
“Due to Covid-19, we are setting aside our usual
plans for grand opening events at the new sites. We
will miss the opportunity to celebrate with our custo-
mers, neighbours and other guests but ensuring health
and safety is of prime importance. Staff are working
with physical distancing and hygiene measures in pla-
ce.” Canadian company said.
The new facilities ship grain to G3 Terminal Vancou-
30
in China. She previously served as Director of the Board
of COFCO Capital and COFCO Biochemical.
“Christy has strong financial expertise with over 25
years of experience from leading the financial, audit
and risk organisations at COFCO Group and its agri-bu-
sinesses in China,” said David Dong, CEO of COFCO
International. “She will be instrumental in achieving
our development objectives and furthering coopera-
tion between the Group’s Chinese and international
businesses.”
Ms Da holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from
Capital University of Economics and Business in Beijing.
She is a People's Republic of China Certified Public Ac-
countant. She succeeds Jing Wu who has decided to
leave the company in September, following a transition
period.
ver, a next-generation grain export terminal opening
this summer. Its loop tracks and ship loading systems
are setting new standards for quickly receiving and
shipping grain.
“These state-of-the-art facilities are transforming the
way grain moves across Canada,” says G3 CEO Don
Chapman. “Our loop-to-loop system connects Prairie
to port in a way that ensures high quality Canadian
grain gets to market on time, which ultimately benefits
Canadian farmers.”
Four more G3 elevators are under construction in Al-
berta: G3 Wetaskiwin and G3 Stettler County will open
later this summer; G3 Vermilion and G3 Irricana in
2021. In Saskatchewan, G3 Swift Current is also under
construction and due to open in 2021.
MILLER / JULY 2020
 NEWS
General Mills named to 3BL Media’s 100 Best
Corporate Citizens of 2020
General Mills announced it has been recognized as
one of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens by 3BL Media
for its outstanding environmental, social and gover-
nance (ESG) transparency and performance among the
1,000 largest, U.S. public companies. For the third con-
secutive year, General Mills received the top ranking
amongst its food and beverage peers for its actions,
and third in the overall rankings.
"For General Mills, being a good corporate citizen is part
of our DNA and central to who we are," said Mary Jane
Melendez, chief sustainability and social impact officer at
General Mills. "Anytime we’re recognized for the role we
play to make the planet and communities in which we live
and work better, it’s an honor. There is always more work
to be done, but we are motivated by our progress and com-
mitment to be a force for good."
General Mills’ sustainability mission centers on pro-
moting environmentally and socially responsible practi-
ces across its value chain to protect the resources and
people upon which the company depends. To achieve
this mission, General Mills is focused on initiatives to
support climate resilience, regenerative agriculture, he-
althy watersheds, thriving ecosystems, and protecting
human rights and animal welfare.
The 100 Best Corporate Citizens ranking is based on 141
ESG transparency and performance factors in eight pillars:
climate change, employee relations, environment, finance,
governance, human rights, stakeholders and society, and
ESG performance. Using a methodology developed by 3BL
Media, all Russell 1000 Index companies are researched
by ISS ESG, the responsible investment research arm of
32
Institutional Shareholder Services. To compile the ranking,
corporate data and information is obtained from publicly
available sources only, rather than questionnaires or com-
pany submissions.
“Achieving the transformational targets in the Paris Agre-
ement and UN Sustainable Development Goals in this deca-
de means we need all companies to embed ESG issues into
their business,” said Dave Armon, CEO of 3BL Media. “The
best corporate citizens of 2020 are leaders, demonstrating
how transparency, ambitious goals, robust strategies and
accounting for all stakeholders builds business and social
value.”
Clients and third-party organizations continue to recog-
nize General Mills globally for its ethics, climate leadership
and commitment to be an employer of choice. The com-
pany’s recent notable U.S. and global recognition includes:
• Dow Jones Sustainability Index: North America and
World Indices
• CDP Climate Change and Water Security A Lists
• Fortune Magazine’s World Most Admired Companies
• Forbes & JUST Capital’s America’s Most Just Compa-
nies
• Newsweek Magazine’s America’s Most Responsible
Companies
• Working Mother 100 Best Companies and Best Com-
panies for Multicultural Women
• NAFE’s Top Companies for Executive Women
• Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality
• Black Enterprise Magazine Best Companies for Diversity
• Military Friendly Employer
MILLER / JULY 2020
 NEWS

IGC raises forecast for 2020/21

world wheat production
The International Grains Council (IGC) raised its forecast for global wheat production in the
2020/21 season, with improved outlooks for Australia and China more than offsetting a
downward revision for the European Union. At 2,237m t, total grains production in 2020/21
is projected to be up by 62m y/y, led by a jump in maize output (+55m) to a new peak, but
with wheat (+6m) also at a record.
With outlooks for production and consumption of take trimmed slightly, global stocks are raised by 3m
total grains (wheat and coarse grains) trimmed, the t, to 44m, representing a marked tightening y/y. Lin-
International Grains Council (IGC) raised its forecast ked to heavier than expected shipments to China, the
for world stocks at the end of 2019/20 slightly m/m trade outlook is upgraded to a peak of 155m t, a 2%
(month-on-month). In IGC’s monthly update, at an y/y gain. A nominal increase for Brazil lifts the proje-
all-time high of 386m t, the forecast for trade (Jul/ ction for 2020/21 global production to 364m t, up by
Jun) is lifted by 6m m/m, including higher numbers for 8% y/y and a record. Mainly reflecting higher opening
wheat, maize, barley and sorghum. Increases for maize, stocks, carryovers are boosted to 45m t, a modest y/y
barley, oats and wheat boost the projection for produ- expansion. Given assumed firm import demand from
ction in 2020/21 by 7m t m/m, to a record 2,237m, an China, world trade is placed at a peak of 160m t, up
increase of 62m y/y (year-on-year). 1m m/m.
The figure for consumption is the same m/m, as a cut With few changes to the 2019/20 global rice supply
for demand in the industrial sector is offset by upward and demand balance sheet from previously, end-sea-
adjustments for food and feed. Higher opening inven- son carryovers are maintained at 176m t, a record level
tories and larger output add 8m t to the projection for on gains in China and leading exporters. The 2020/21
world 2020/21 ending stocks, seen building by 20m production outlook is trimmed m/m, with the net re-
t y/y, to a three-season high of 635m. Mostly on an duction in total supplies leading to a modestly lower
upgrade for wheat shipments, grains trade in 2020/21 figure for inventories, placed at 180m t, albeit still a
(Jul/Jun) is placed 3m t higher m/m, at 390m. new high. The projection for trade in 2021 is unchan-
The Council’s 2019/20 world soyabean output esti- ged m/m, at 44m t (+4% y/y).
mate is pegged marginally higher m/m and, with up- The IGC Grains and Oilseeds Index (GOI) strengthe-

34 MILLER / JULY 2020


ned by 1% m/m, with gains for maize, soyabean and
rice export quotations outweighing falls for wheat and
barley.
GLOBAL GRAIN TRADE IS PREDICTED
AT A NEW HIGH
World total grains (wheat and
coarse grains) production in
2019/20 is expected to climb by
37m t y/y, to 2,175m, including
record harvests of wheat and bar-
ley. Expected increases for food
and feed are seen outweighing
an anticipated drop in industrial
demand, to lift total consumption
by 15m t y/y, to 2,181m, leading
to a 5m y/y drawdown of stocks.
Global trade (Jul/Jun) is predicted
at a new high of 386m t (+22m
y/y), including record shipments
of wheat and maize.
At 2,237m t, total grains produ-
ction in 2020/21 is projected to be
up by 62m y/y, led by a jump in
maize output (+55m) to a new peak, but with wheat
(+6m) also at a record. IGC increased its global wheat
production forecast by 2 million tonnes to 768 milli-
on, up from the prior season’s 762 million. Australia’s
wheat crop was seen at 26.2 million tonnes, up from a
previous projection of 24.0 million and sharply above
the prior season’s 15.2 million.
While consumption prospects are somewhat uncer-
tain, all components of demand are assumed to rise,
MILLER / JULY 2020
NEWS
taking total use to a fresh high of 2,218m t (+37m
y/y). As projected supplies are more than ample to
meet anticipated demand, the first build-up of global
stocks in four years is expected, placed 20m t higher
y/y, at 635m; this includes increases for wheat and
barley, but a fourth successive depletion of maize in-
ventories, to a seven-year low. Led
by the twelfth annual expansion of
maize shipments, total grains trade
is seen growing by 5m t y/y, to a
record 390m.
Although Brazilian output rea-
ched a new high, world soyabe-
an production fell by 7% y/y in
2019/20 on a significantly redu-
ced US harvest, with declines, too,
in Argentina, Canada, India and
Ukraine. And with total use edging
up, carryovers are seen contracting
sharply on a sizeable reduction in
the US. Trade is predicted at a high
of 155m t on bigger deliveries to
Asia. On the basis of a rebound
in US production, world output in
2020/21 could reach a peak of 364m t, an 8% y/y
gain. With consumption growth likely to quicken, in-
ventories are predicted to increase only marginally,
with exporters’ stocks set to tighten. Traded volumes
are projected to expand by 3% y/y.
Despite record production in India, smaller crops el-
sewhere in Asia and in other regions resulted in a mar-
ginal y/y fall in global rice production in 2019/20. Total
use is seen at a new high on population growth and
efforts to ensure food
security in key consu-
mers. Inventories are li-
kely to increase on gains
in China and key expor-
ters; linked to accumula-
tion in India, aggregate
stocks in the five major
exporters are predicted
to climb by 10%, to
42.9m t. With elevated
international prices and
state support seen un-
derpinning expanded
acreage, world producti-
on in 2020/21 is projec-
ted to rise by 2% y/y, to
a record of 505m t, whi-
le uptake and carryovers
may scale fresh peaks.
Trade is forecast to reco-
ver to 44m t in 2021 on
stronger demand from
buyers in Africa in par-
ticular.
35
 NEWS
Michael Larsen appointed as new
Director of Sales at Inteqnion BV
Inteqnion b.v., part of the TRIOTT Group and one of Europe’s leading companies in process
control and optimization for the feed milling and milling industry announced Michael Larsen
as Director of Sales, with the management responsibility for all sales outside Holland. He will
also represent all TRIOTT Group companies in general.
Michael Larsen has 20 years + experience
in the feed milling industry and worked with
Daniit and Norvidan, where he held positions
as both Director of Sales and CEO. He wor-
ked world wide in these positions, ranging
from New Zealand over Scandinavia to Latin
America. Michael has both a technical engi-
neering background as well as an economic
degree and has been member of the board
of directors for several tech-companies. Mic-
hael Larsen was head of development of the
Norvidan “On-line Density Tester” and the Michael Larsen
“Temperature at the Die system” (for which
Norvidan received several awards, among ot-
hers from Aquafeed.com).
“I am very excited getting the opportunity to join the
TRIOTT group as I have always admired their passion for
the feed milling industry and the way they conducted the-
ir business. I had the privilege to do projects together with
U.S. Senate Ag Committee
passes Grain Standards Re-authorization
The bill extends the authorization for the Federal Grain
Inspection Service of the Department of Agriculture to conti-
nue providing inspection services and to maintain an official
marketing standard for certain grains and oilseeds. The Fede-
ral Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) establishes official marketing standards
for grains and oilseeds under the authorization of the U.S.
Grain Standards Act, which was first signed into law in 1916.
The bill now heads to the full Senate to consider the fi-
ve-year reauthorization. Senate Agriculture Committee Cha-
irman Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican,
says, “the entire federal grain inspection
system needs the certainty, predictability,
and transparency” the reauthorization bill
provides. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan,
the top Democrat on the Committee, says
the bill “protects the interests of Ameri-
can farmers and ensures our credibility as
a reliable producer of high-quality crops.”
36
both Ottevanger and Inteqnion during my time
at Norvidan. I came to admire how focused
and dedicated Erik and René Ottevanger and
the entire group were on delivering on time
and make an outstanding project for their cus-
tomers. When René contacted me to join the
team I had no hesitations what so ever and I am
looking forward to working with all my know-
ledgeable colleges at Inteqnion and the com-
panies of the TRIOTT Group. Together we will
bring their excellent products to the market in
Scandinavian as well as globally” says Michael.
René Ottevanger: “We are very pleased
that Michael joined the Inteqnion team. With
his extensive knowledge and experience in the feed milling
industry and his wide-ranged network he will bring an im-
pulse to our company. We see this as a great opportunity
to strengthen and increase our position in the market and
have great confidence in our cooperation.”
Roberts says the bill has wide industry support. The National
Association of Wheat Growers voiced its support of the rea-
uthorization, stating, “Our overseas customers value the in-
dependent system in place through the Grain Standards Act.”
The National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) and North
American Export Grain Association (NAEGA) said they also
strongly support legislation that would reauthorize and im-
prove the U.S. Grain Standards Act. “Stakeholders – ranging
from producers to grain handlers and processors to end-u-
sers and consumers – benefit when (FGIS) and its delegated
and designated state and private agencies
provide state-of-the-art, market-responsi-
ve Official inspection and weighing of bulk
grains and oilseeds, and do so in a reliable,
uninterrupted, consistent and cost-effe-
ctive manner,” NGFA and NAEGA said in
a support letter to Committee Chairman
Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and Ranking Member
Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.
MILLER / JULY 2020
 NEWS
Ian Roberts Andrew D. Ive
CTO at Bühler Group Founder of Big Idea Ventures
Bühler partners with Big Idea Ventures to
accelerate sustainable protein revolution
Bühler and Big Idea Ventures are joining forces to accelerate the success journey of promis-
ing start-ups creating great tasting alternatives to animal-derived protein products.
Big Idea Ventures, the global venture capital fund
focused on solving the world’s greatest challenges by
supporting the world’s best entrepreneurs, recently la-
unched the New Protein Fund. The Fund will invest in
and accelerate up to 100 plant-based and cell-based
companies globally. Big Idea Ventures runs four acce-
lerator programs annually in New York and Singapore.
"We are glad to have Bühler join Tyson Ventures,
Temasek and our other strategic investors in the Big
Idea Ventures’ New Protein Fund. Together we can
support the growth of the new generation of leading
plant-based companies in North America, Asia and ul-
timately, the planet. Bühler and Big Idea Ventures will
work together to build great companies responding to
consumer demands for great tasting food that is good
for them and good for the planet," says Andrew D. Ive,
Founder of Big Idea Ventures.
Bühler is a family owned, 160-year-old company,
supplying processing solutions globally and playing a
critical role in global food value chains. "Providing safe,
nutritious, pleasurable and affordable food to a popu-
lation of 10 billion people by 2050 and doing that wit-
hin the planetary boundaries is a formidable challenge,"
explains Ian Roberts, CTO at Bühler Group. "There is an
urgent need for wide-scale collaboration if we are to
make an impact on the climate and nutrition challen-
ges within the next decade. Academics, start-ups, and
established companies need to come together to inno-
vate and find more sustainable ways to produce food.
This is why we are partnering with Big Idea Ventures:
to accelerate the journey for promising start-ups, to
38
Johannes Wick
CEO Grains and Food at
Bühler Group
reinforce partnerships and start-up ecosystems in Sin-
gapore and the US, and to do this with a clear focus on
creating a more sustainable food supply for the future."
Bühler plays a key role in serving the fast-growing
plant-based meat and dairy replacements sector, with
value chain coverage from primary processing of pul-
ses, peas and lentils, soy, oats, quinoa and, of cour-
se, traditional grains, through to the shaping, forming,
texturing, fiber formation and cooling of meat analo-
gues, be they dry or high moisture. "This new partner-
ship benefits from our global network of Food Appli-
cation Centers across Europe, Asia, and the US", says
Johannes Wick, CEO Grains and Food at Bühler Group.
"However, it is particularly timely, given that we are
opening our Food Application Center in Minneapolis
on June 19 and introducing new technologies, such as
the Filtrex solution, specifically for this sector, and will
open our joint innovation facility with Givaudan in Sin-
gapore later this year."
The joint Givaudan Bühler innovation facility in Sin-
gapore focuses on sustainable protein-based products.
Combining the flavor and formulation know-how of
Givaudan with the process know-how and technologi-
cal capabilities of Bühler, it provides a one-stop shop
for development and first scale up of new products for
market test.
"We will be pleased to welcome Big Idea Ventures
start-ups to benefit from our facilities and capabilities,"
adds Roberts. "We are excited about this partnership
and believe that we can advance our goals for a sustai-
nable food system with Andrew and his team."
MILLER / JULY 2020
 NEWS
FAO Syria releases Seed Security Assessment findings
Seed availability of major crops has been a serious
challenge for Syrian smallholder farmers in the past 10
years due to the damage to the agricultural system cau-
sed the conflict. Prior to the crisis, the General Organi-
zation for Seed Multiplication (GOSM) was responsible
for the provision of up to 300 000 tonnes of certified
wheat seed a year to farmers across the country. To-
day, GOSM is capable of providing only around 50 000
tonnes of seed. This is enough to meet the planting
demands for only 15 percent of the 1.8 million hectares
of land planned for wheat cultivation. The remainder
will come from farmers’ own saved seed or from seeds
from unknown sources in the local market.
FAO, under its Smallholder Support Programme,
works toward finding strategic solutions to make qu-
ality seed available for smallholder farmers. With the
support from the FAO Headquarters Seed Security
Team, FAO Syria has conducted a Seed Security As-
sessment, which was completed in April 2020. To anal-
yze the quality and availability of seed of across the
country, a representative sample of crop farmers from
seven governorates were interviewed to provide their
perspectives.
The assessment findings included:
• Although GOSM is an important source for acc-
40
redited wheat seed, the farmers obtained half of their
seed from other sources to supplement what they rece-
ived from GOSM.
• Local informal markets are an important source of
seed for nearly every major crop (wheat, barley, pul-
ses).
• Twenty percent of farmers are sowing less seed
than they normally would because they cannot afford
seed or other inputs like water for irrigation or agro-
chemicals. This reveals that the combination of chal-
lenge between general lack of seed and the ability of
poorer farmers to access inputs more generally.
• Seed is a significant cost for farmers, the estimation
of their total expenditure on seed is between 1/6 (ra-
in-fed) to 1/3 (irrigated) in total, which is spent in local
informal markets.
The FAO Seed Security Assessment reveals the op-
portunities to enhance the local markets and assist Sy-
rian farmers to benefit from their production activities.
This can be achieved through improving seed supply,
helping small-scale farmers access seed and other in-
puts, working with informal markets to improve the qu-
ality and diversity of seed, and improving the provision
of new varieties by strengthening research systems and
building better links to farmer demand.
MILLER / JULY 2020
 NEWS
United Grain in Vancouver halts operations after
staffers test positive for the coronavirus
Vancouver-based United Grain has suspended operati-
ons at its grain export terminal at the Port of Vancouver,
in southwest Washington, after two of its on-site staff
tested positive for COVID-19, the company announced.
United Grain operates the largest grain elevator on
the West Coast, with more than 200 grain silos occup-
ying much of the east end of the port. The terminal
transfers grain from rail cars and river barges to ships
Vortex appoints exclusive dealer for South Korea
Vortex Global, a solids and bulk handling compo-
nents company, announced the appointment of TSP
(Total Solution Provider) Korea as its new representa-
tive exclusive to South Korea. With this appointment,
TSP Korea will be responsible for creating customer re-
lationships, arranging site visits, and following up on
Vortex customer inquiries received in South Korea.
TSP Korea was established in 1999 and known as
HAN Corporation until 2013. The company is based
in the Seongdong District of South Korea’s capital city
of Seoul. TSP Korea has an extensive background in
food & beverage, pet food, animal feed and chemical
related machinery. Its primary function is to ensure that
42
bound for international destinations.
The company learned of one positive COVID-19 test
result among its staff, according to public relations ma-
nager Stephanie McClintock. Company officials sought
guidance from Clark County Public Health and began
working to identify other employees that could have
been exposed to the disease caused by the novel co-
ronavirus.
the end user’s preferences are met and to assist with
the implementation of machinery and systems.
“The Vortex team looks forward to working with
TSP Korea in the South Korean market,” explained
Laurence Millington, managing director at Vortex
Global. “We are excited about the opportunity to
provide South Korea with solutions for their dry bulk
handling needs.”
With the addition of Vortex Global’s portfolio, TSP
Korea can now offer its clients slide gates, diverter
valves and loading spouts for handling dry bulk solid
materials. Mr. BaikSoo Han will be the primary point of
contact for Vortex’s South Korean customers.
MILLER / JULY 2020
 NEWS

Yemmak signature in Turkey’s top producers in 2020

Yemmak, one of the leading Turkish companies in feed machinery production, has announced
that 2020 is very successful for them. Company officials stated that “all” major compound feed
facilities that will be operational this year within the country are being constructed by them.
Sharing their projects to be activated in 2020 with feed types at the same time, will be capable of produ-
Miller Magazine, Halil Yırtımcı, Deputy General Ma- cing all feed types for livestock raising.
nager of Yemmak, which is exporting to 43 countries Eryem, one of the strong stakeholders of the industry,
with an industry experience of 55 years, said, “As Tur- also applied to Yemmak for its 75 tons/hour capacity
key’s leading machine manufacturer, we continue to plant in Menemen following its factory in Ödemiş. It
make great strides is stated that the fa-
within the country ctory under assembly
on top of abroad. 5 will start production
feed producers from in September. Ta-
different regions of rım Kredi Yem, whi-
Turkey, has opted for ch gathers 12 feed
Yemmak brand for 6 plants under one
new facilities.” roof, also assigned
Proyem, operating the same company
under the roof of for two plants, one
Matlı Food Group, in Şanlıurfa and the
preferred Yemmak other in Tire, both of
for its 100 tons/hour which have a capa-
compound feed fa- city of 50 tons/hour.
cility in Polatlı dist- It was stated that the
rict of Ankara. The one in Şanlıurfa will
plant, which produ- be the first high-tech
ces durable pellets feed factory in the
with 5 pellet lines, 3 province. Özlem Yem
of which are double and Sivtaş have dar-
pelletizing, became kened the same door
operational at the for their plants in
beginning of June. Adapazarı, Söğütlü
The facility, which (50 tons/hour) and
has the capacity to Sivas (20 tons/hour)
produce 5 different respectively.

44 MILLER / JULY 2020

 NEWS

FAO and Rabobank to work for

more sustainable food systems
FAO and Rabobank's new partnership focuses on helping make food systems more sustainable,
including through innovative investments. Joint projects aim to lower greenhouse gas emissions,
improve land and water use, and empower smallholder farmers to reduce food losses and ad-
dress the challenges of climate change

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations (FAO) has signed a new part-
nership agreement with Rabobank, a Dutch co-
operative bank, with the intention of helping
targeted rural communities benefit from more
inclusive, sustainable food systems. It also envi-
sages jointly exploring the use of innovative fi-
nancial instruments to bridge financing gaps in
emerging markets and to promote sustainability
in food systems investments.
FAO and Rabobank will work with key food
and agriculture sectors on a series of projects
designed to help lower greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions, improve land and water use, and em-
power smallholder farmers to address the chal-
lenges of climate change and reduction of food
losses. Special attention will be paid in ensuring
the inclusion of poor, vulnerable and marginali-
zed groups, including women and youth.
The collaboration will begin with a review of
the dairy sector in two pilot countries, India and
Kenya, with a view to reducing food losses in
the sector and promoting a transition to more
sustainable food systems. The dairy sector has
an important role to play in food systems trans-
formation, as it contributes to food security and
nutrition and provides livelihoods for a number
of actors along the food value chain. Though
dairy production also contributes to greenhouse
gas emissions, it holds huge potential for im-
provement.
The projects undertaken in the context of the
partnership will support FAO's Hand-in-Hand
initiative, which matches donors and recipients
to support tailor-made, country-led efforts to
assist the most vulnerable populations. The
private sector is a key partner in the initiative,
and Rabobank, as a global leader in food and

46 MILLER / JULY 2020


agriculture financing and sustainability-orien-
ted banking, is well-placed to assist in designing
such interventions.
"The new partnership between FAO and Rabo-
bank will serve to support our work to transform
food systems so that they can become more inc-
lusive and sustainable, especially within the con-
text of the COVID-19 response and the need to
build back, better. In particular it will focus on im-
proved land and water use, lowering greenhou-
se gas emissions and food loss while increasing
the resilience of farmers and small-scale busines-
ses," said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu. "I
also wish to thank Rabobank's support to FAO's
Hand-In-Hand Initiative which aims, through
specific country-led interventions, to assist the
most vulnerable populations," he added.
COVID-19 has shown us that our food systems
need a ‘new normal'," said Berry Marttin, Bo-
ard Member of Rabobank. "We need to identify
and analyze finance gaps and debate short and
long supply chains. We must focus on innovative
ways to reward sustainability investments, such
as implementing ‘nature costing', a pricing stru-
cture that reflects food's environmental impact.
Rabobank is the leading bank in food and agri-
culture, but also a cooperative bank. We believe
in working together. By partnering with FAO, we
Corinne Roux appointed Chairperson
of the IGC for 2020/21
The International Grains Council announced the ap-
pointment of Ms. Corinne Roux, Policy Advisor, Trade
Relations Unit, Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG),
Switzerland as IGC’s Chairperson for
2020/21. Ms. Roux is very familiar with the
IGC and its work having served as Switzer-
land’s representative to the organisation
since 2014. Previously Ms. Roux was in-
volved in the negotiations of the new Food
Assistance Convention which came into ef-
fect in 2012.
During her tenure, Ms. Roux is particu-
larly interested in working with the Sec-
retariat and Council members to further
develop information and transparency in
the global grains, oilseeds and rice mar-
kets. Following the uncertainty caused by
the COVID-19 crisis, the Secretariat will Corinne Roux
issue 5-year supply and demand forecasts
for 2021-2026 for the main grains, oilseeds
and rice, with a particular focus on demand trends. The supporting the organisation in that role.”
MILLER / JULY 2020
NEWS
can mobilize our complementary expertise and
networks to contribute to real food system trans-
formations."
The partnership will also map agricultural supp-
ly chains to identify opportunities for green fi-
nance hotspots in emerging markets, and explore
the possibility of environmental or climate finan-
ce programming incentives that reward farmers
and small agribusinesses for adopting GHG emis-
sion reduction technologies and practices.
Through its work, FAO advocates for susta-
inable food systems that ensure food security
and nutrition for all without compromising the
economic, social and environmental conditions
which are necessary to generate food security
and nutrition for future generations. Food sys-
tems both contribute to and are affected by ext-
reme weather events as associated with climate
change, land degradation and biodiversity loss,
so any response to these challenges requires a
systems-based approach that addresses the ran-
ge and complexities in a holistic manner.
FAO has previously collaborated successfully
with the Rabobank Foundation, a corporate foun-
dation funded by the bank, on projects aimed at
improving the incomes of smallholder farmers in
Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania through better ac-
cess to financial tools and investments.
report will be made available on the IGC public website
in January 2021.
Switzerland is also interested in encouraging dialo-
gue and cooperation between the public
and private sectors and will co-organise a
seminar with the IGC Secretariat in January
2021 to promote global trade in the grains,
oilseeds and rice sectors, which will also be
one of the main themes of the next IGC
Grains Conference in June 2021.
On her appointment, Ms.Roux said “I
would like to thank the Council for suppor-
ting my candidacy as Chair of the IGC for
2020/21. The last months with COVID-19
have underlined the importance of the IGC
and the Secretariat’s work to share unbia-
sed and transparent information in order to
allow importers, exporters and producers
to react to new situations and to make in-
formed decisions. I am looking forward to
47
 COVER STORY

48 MILLER / JULY 2020

 COVER STORY

ADJUSTMENT AND
MAINTENANCE OF
THE MILLING PLANT
Maintenance, repair and technical service are
significant since they affect lifetime of mill-
ing machines and ensure them to work non-
stop at desired levels. If regular and good
maintenance is not performed, machines
cannot work for long years. Expenditures
on maintenance cannot show direct returns,
but they are very important for guarantee-
ing the overall return from the operation.

Maintenance is defined as the set of tasks that involve activities like

changing, lubricating, cleaning etc. of components that are worn or have
to be changed periodically or have a life time that expired and making
adjustments according to user guides. Aim of maintenance is to decrease
costs, increase production efficiency and product quality, ensure produc-
tion continuity and personnel safety, and increase useful life.

Insufficient maintenance results in shutdowns for the mill and causes

a decrease in capacity and inadequate production. Accelerated amorti-
zations for machines, increase in mineral oils and product costs are also
among results of insufficient maintenance. And the ultimate results may
be loss of prestige and bankruptcy because of poor quality products.

Expenditures on maintenance cannot show direct returns, but they

are very important for guaranteeing the overall return from the opera-
tion. Small amounts of costs for maintenance can prevent the mill from
far reaching breakdowns and a huge financial damage. Besides, regular
maintenance on machines also decrease spare part and service costs. We
can diagnose many problems in the mill at early stages thanks to main-
tenance. One of the first things to examine when a mill is experiencing
poor results is the maintenance.

Adequate maintenance program can be achieved by the use of three

different methods: Unscheduled maintenance, preventive maintenance
and predictive maintenance. Management and inspectors, can choose
and arrange maintenance systems according to specific needs and local
conditions by making use of those methods.

Maintenance involves all activities which enable mechanical systems to

show desired and anticipated performance at all times. Performing main-
tenance according to today’s technology is only possible with adopting
systematic and methodologic understanding and engineering perspective.

MILLER / JULY 2020 49

 Dr. Ahmet Yalçınkaya
Management Coordinator
Molino Mechanical Industry and Trade Inc.

On mutual interaction between

Industry 4.0 and Predictive
Maintenance
“Industry 4.0 promotes Smart Predictive Maintenance (SPdM)
and smart manufacturing as machines are connected as a
collaborative community in smart factories generating a great
potential for Predictive Maintenance (PdM). Transition to Industry
4.0 is a dynamic process and continues. PdM plays a fundamental
role in that transition, benefitting also from the developments of
that transition in terms of data collection and data analysis.”

Total Productive inspections and similar to maintain the func-

Maintenance and its Predictive tionality of equipment and buildings through-
Maintenance tool out their expected lives”.1

Maintenance is defined in many ways de- These activities can be carried out using dif-
pending upon which parameter one is fo- ferent methods which differ according either
cused, but in general, it can be defined as “all the conditions faced or the strategy selected.
kinds of activities such as repair, replacement, If we classify them, we can see that although

50 MILLER / JULY 2020

 COVER STORY

a complex structure is observed, they can be grouped activities by himself/herself.

under three main methods applied2. A classification of
maintenance activities is shown in Figure 1, and a sum-
mary given below.
Breakdown maintenance which is also called “reac-
tive maintenance” is an emergency maintenance, is cor-
rective and consequently unscheduled. It is carried out
whenever a breakdown is faced. The problem is solved
either in repairing or replacing the problematic element.
For planned maintenance, a strategy, a schedule and
an execution program and method is inevitable. Planned
maintenance cannot be performed like breakdown, and
needs a sophisticated maintenance management strat-
egy to guide, control and evaluate maintenance activi-
ties. Companies generally try to establish an “Efficient
Maintenance System” to be able to manage mainte-
nance.

Planned maintenance is scheduled, and depending on
the strategy, technology and present situation reports,
one of the three planned methods may apply. One is
“Protective maintenance (PM)” which is also called
“preventive maintenance (PM) ,and “proactive main-
tenance (PM)” to point out its precautionary character,
or “periodical maintenance (PM)” to emphasize that it
is scheduled having daily, weekly, monthly, yearly main-
tenance periods. “Predictive maintenance (PdM)” mak-
ing use of measurements and monitoring to predict the
eventual breakdown times for taking precautions before
such breakdowns occur is the other strategy which may
be decided for. “Revision” is a case when maintenance
is not sufficient anymore to maintain the functionality
and extend the life of equipment and parts.
Elements of an efficient maintenance system would
be maintenance policy, materials control, work order
system, equipment records, maintenance (both sched-
uled and unscheduled), work planning and scheduling,
control of incomplete tasks and prior system, evaluation
of maintenance in order to achieve maintenance goals
such as minimizing time loss, maintenance cost, stop-
ping time and wearing of equipment3.
The concept of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)
presents a proved, efficient, and well defined philos-
ophy, methodology and technique to establish such a
system. It includes technically the planning, monitoring,
evaluating, management and development elements of
an efficient system.

Redundancy is not a direct maintenance method, but TPM needs well definitions, continuous and reliable
a supporting activity to make maintenance and replace- information (and data depending upon the maintenance
ment possible. type) and analysis, both technical and managerial, to be
able to yield effective results.
Predictive maintenance (PdM) is a new approach and
has in application briefly 3 phases [1], [2]: So, a master plan is necessary for establishing TPM; a
• Measurement phase, where critical
points for measurement are identified,
measurements are performed using NDT
methods like oil analysis, temperature
analysis through infrared thermography,
ultrasonic test, vibration analysis, noise
analysis, measurement of pressure and
current differences, and also visual in-
spection.
• Analysis, where results of the mea-
surements are analysed and failure
source is determined.
• Repair, where fault is evaluated
and necessary repair is carried out. This
phase should also include a “planning”
sub-phase.

A concept not mentioned among

maintenance methods above is “au-
tonomous maintenance”. It is not a
direct method comparable to the de-
scribed ones, but is an application to Figure 1: Classification of Maintenance Activities
emphasize the degree of operational Source: Ahmet Yalcinkaya, Etkin Bakım Sistemi, Konya, 2013
sufficiency. In autonomous mainte- (from Ilhan Or, Total Productive Maintenance Management)
nance, the equipment operator car-
ries out some of the maintenance

MILLER / JULY 2020 51

 COVER STORY
plan including independent improvements, autonomous
maintenance, planned maintenance, education and train-
ing, quality maintenance, new equipment management,
and TPM plan for offices2.
The nature of TPM necessitates a blended methodology
for maintenance to gain optimum benefit considering plant
conditions, production plan, manpower, finance and simi-
lar parameters. Despite this, PdM is the method to support
TPM philosophy at most due its analytic character, and is
highly preferable for plants where continuous production is
urgent as other methods will be insufficient in such cases.
TPM has many benefits for a plant, but the main
parameter measured and calculated to ensure the effi-
Figure 2: Industrial Revolution Timeline
Source: www.researchgate.net/publication/322369285
52
ciency of the system is the Overall Equipment Efficiency
(OEE), which is formulated based on various defined
periods, durations and times in usually minutes so that
records of these durations should be kept very well.
Industry 4.0 and maintenance shortly
Industry 4.0 known as the fourth generation of indus-
trial activity “represents the fourth industrial revolution
on the way to combine modern industries with Cyber
Physical Systems (CBS) , Internet of Things (IoT) and
Internet of Services (IoS)”, and is characterized by smart
systems and Internet based solutions. In an Industry 4.0
factory, machines are connected as a “collaborating
community to collect, exchange and analyse data”4.
MILLER / JULY 2020
 COVER STORY
Figure 3: Technologies Enabling PdM
Source: Deloitte analysis. Deloitte University Press. http://dupress.deloitte.com
If we remember the historical process of industrial
revolutions and try to establish a correlation between
them and the mainly applied or suitable maintenance
method corresponding to it, we can summarize the de-
velopment as given in Figure 25.
Facilitating effect of Predictive
Maintenance on Industry 4.0
Returning to Predictive Maintenance (PdM), we can
see that its application can be also defined based on
the data structure or the data collection and analysis
method it uses.
Predictive Maintenance (PdM) may be “rule based”
which is actually “condition monitoring” where sensors
collect data continuously and send alerts according to
defined rules and thresholds. This would not meet the
expectation if a factory or plant is desired to be smart.
On the other hand, predictive maintenance may be
“machine learning based” which relies on large sets of
historical data or test data combined with special ma-
chine learning algorithms6. It is possible in this way to
run different scenarios and predict what will go wrong
when, and generate alerts to point it out.
54
A Machine Learning Process consists of the succes-
sive data collection, feature extraction and reduction,
model creation, model validation, and deployment steps
[6] where the main goal is to run the created model
and improve the system in relaying back discrepant be-
haviours. So, the loop is improving the behaviours in-
stead of just repeating them.
In Industry 4.0 environments, machine learning is
even considered as the core of PdM, and is advised to
be integrated also to business operations in order to link
estimations and action recommendations for a better
decision making 7.
In the beginning of PdM applications, rule based
maintenance might be a good choice to obtain quick
business results and to give a stepping stone into ma-
chine learning as it is viable both for plants having al-
ready IoT, and also for those who have not yet designed
their system, but, for an optimum application to realize
smart manufacturing, rule based method may not be
sufficient if IoT is not implemented, and as historical
data will not be available or not continuous in this case.
Among the “Industry 4.0” criteria, two key criteria in
context with PdM are “technical assistance” and “de-
MILLER / JULY 2020

centralized decision-making”. PdM drastically improves
technical support by catching errors that humans cannot
see [8]. Especially if based on machine learning, PdM
decisions are based only on data so that centralized
decision making is eliminated. This may not be always
acceptable in all types of establishments in earlier steps.
PdM plays a key role in Industry 4.0. With its help,
“manufacturers will have full lifespan use of parts and
no unplanned downtime will be faced”. This means fa-
cilitating smart factories that enable machine to machine
learning improving at the end safety and productivity 8.
Additionally, if the technologies enabling PdM are ex-
plored, one can see that those technologies also con-
tribute to digital transformation which is necessary for
an Industry 4.0 plant. Figure 3 gives a table of technol-
ogies that enable PdM 9.
Improving effect of Industry 4.0
on Predictive Maintenance
In real applications, impacts of Industry 4.0 and PdM
on each other cannot be separated actually. There is a
loop which is always repeating itself after having closed,
resulting a continuous development fed by the impact
of PdM on Industry 4.0, and vice versa. In other words,
PdM fits into Industry 4.0 as Internet of Things (IoT) the
main element of Industry 4.0 is a crucial enabler for it 8.
Continuous data from live sensors, and intelligent
systems analysing that data are crucial for PdM. This
is just the essential point to focus. The more Indus-
try 4.0 tools are implemented, the higher will be the
performance of PdM. Industry 4.0 is shortly defined
also as “the superposition of several technological
developments related to Cyber Physical Systems
(CBS), Internet of Things (IoT), Internet of Services
(IoS), and Data Mining (DM)” 4. Such a superposi-
tion will provide ideal data feed to PdM for estimat-
ing, monitoring and controlling of eventual failures
and inconsistencies.
Industry 4.0 enables to realize the “smart factory”
idea, and smart factories can lead even to “self-aware
and self-maintained machine systems which can self-as-
sess its own health and degradation, and use also in-
formation from other peers for smart maintenance de-
cisions” 4, which can be considered as an exact fit for
industrial big data environment.
For mechanical systems, self-awareness means “being
able to assess the current or past condition of a machine,
and react to the assessment output 10. The smarter the
factory is, the higher will be the self-awareness of the ma-
chines, and smartness level is proportional to implementa-
tion and application percentage of Industry 4.0 tools.
Mutual interaction of Industry 4.0 and PdM is open
to improvements and development as digital transfor-
MILLER / JULY 2020
COVER STORY
mation has not reached its limits. Tools such as big data
environment and cloud computing environment are
considered to further facilitate Industry 4.0. Similarly,
to facilitate the interaction, studies and applications to
further increase the power of PdM are also presented
recently.
Such a tool attracting attention is Smart Predictive
Maintenance (SPdM) discussed widely in production
environments. SPdM is a modern maintenance strategy
beyond PdM, and incorporates PdM with several tech-
nologies and maintenance systems (e.g. CMMS, ERP,
MES). Its main feature is the capability to provide also
information on maintenance planning, spare parts plan-
ning, and automation of maintenance tasks 11.
We conclude shortly that Industry 4.0 promotes PdM
and smart manufacturing as machines are connected as
a collaborative community in smart factories generating
a great potential for PdM 4. Transition to Industry 4.0 is
a dynamic process and continues. PdM plays a funda-
mental role in that transition, benefitting also from the
developments of that transition in terms of data collec-
tion and data analysis.
References
1
Alfin, F; Mill Maintenance Methods, Miller Maga-
zine, No.101, May 2018
2
Yalçınkaya, A; Etkin Bakım Sistemi, El Kitabı/Kılavuz,
AB Holding, Konya, Mayıs 2013
3
Orhan, İ; Karakoç Hikmet; Bakım Yönetim Süreçleri
ve Etkinliğin Değerlendirilmesi, Mühendis ve Makina,
Sayı 607, Ağustos 2010
4
Li, Z; Wang, K; He, Y;Industry 4.0-Potentials for Pre-
dictive Maintenance, Proceedings of the 6th Interna-
tional Workshop of Advanced Manufacturing and Auto-
mation (IWAMA), October 2016
5
Chesworth, D; Industry 4.0 Techniques as a Main-
tenance Strategy (A Review Paper), www.researchgate.
net/publication/322369285 Access: 9 June 2020
6
Why Predictive Maintenance is Driving Industry 4.0,
Smart Industry, White Paper, Seebo Interactive Ltd,
2018, www.seebo.com/iot-resources, Access: 9 June
2020
7
Becks, A; Machine Learning als Kern der praedika-
tiven Wartung, IT & Production, Oktober 2017
8
Roubaud, J; How Predictive Maintenance Fits into
Industry 4.0, www.engineering.com, Access: 9 June
2020
9
Coleman, Ch; Damodaran, S; Chandramouli, M;
Deuel, E; Making maintenance smarter, Deloitte Uni-
versity Press, Deloitte Development LLC, 2017.
10
Lee, J; Kao, H-A; Yang, S; Service innovation and
smart analytics for Industry 4.0 and big data environ-
ment, Proceedings of the 6th Conference on Industrial
Product-Service Systems, Procedia CIRP 16 (2014).
11
Durmuş, M; Smart Predictive Maintenance: Der
Schlüssel zu Industrie 4.0 www.aisoma.de , Access: 6
May 2018, and 9 June 2020.
55
Prof. Dr. Farhan Alfin
obtained his Ph.D.
Prof. Farhan Alfin
from Ege University in
Izmir, Turkey, from the
Department of Food
Engineering in 2000.
He worked at Avrasya
University (Trabzon –
Turkey) from 2005 to 2019
and hold the position
of Head of The Food
Engineering Department.
He worked at Albaath

Mill Maintenance
University in Homs
City, Syria at the Food
Engineering Department

in The Age of Industry 4.0

from 2000 to 2015, and
he held the position of
Head of Department from
2006 to 2010. During
that period, he offered his
consultancy and education “If we combine Computerized maintenance management system
services to several flour
mills in Syria. On another – CMMS with Industry 4.0’s principle aspects, it gives an enterprise
level, he worked as the
executive manager of
system that can access to big data that needed to more accurate
Alakhras Mill in Rural Homs
from 2009 to 2015. He is
maintenance planning. This approach determines the potential
also the author of “Cereal component failures and failure ratios of critical equipment and
Milling Technology” book
written in Arabic. Prof. components. These systems introduce the possibility of more
Alfin is working now as a
production supervisor at
intelligent maintenance scheduling combined with reduced
Darıca Flour Mill (Trabzon
– Turkey).
maintenance cost.”

It is very important to have effective and ef-
ficient production as possible to keep the mill
business running in the time with hard com-
petition. Mill maintenance management is one
of the most important things that ensure this
aim by avoid unexpected downtime and late
deliveries.
Maintenance management can be achieved
by the use of three different methods:
Unscheduled maintenance, preventive
maintenance and predictive maintenance.
1- Unscheduled Maintenance (Corrective
Maintenance): It is also called emergency
maintenance, breakdown maintenance or re-
pair maintenance.
2- Preventive Maintenance (PM): This
method all components of machines or
equipment are monitored at a specific
interval and failures or possible failure

56 MILLER / JULY 2020


sources are determined and eliminated.
3- Predictive maintenance (PdM) measures manually
or by online sensors parameters of machines and equip-
ment during working. For example, measuring of eleva-
tors bears or mill rollers bears temperature. The data are
recorded by specialized software (Computerized mainte-
nance management system – CMMS) to plan a mainte-
nance schedule. This software traces data and historical
data using statistic analytical approach to highlight where
a machine is not performing as it should so that it can be
repaired ahead of time. Predictive maintenance can help
mills make repairs when or before they’re needed, rather
than running breakdown maintenance or replacing a per-
fectly good part that may have many cycles left (Preven-
tive Maintenance), thus reducing costly downtime.
PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE CHALLENGES
Effective predictive maintenance practicing is faced by
following:
(1) High demands on data access. This challenge is
faced by new technologies sensors that made it is now
possible to read parameters of equipment parts, like tem-
perature, vibration, relative position, tightness of driving
belt... etc.
(2) The capability to deal with industrial big data. Big
MILLER / JULY 2020
COVER STORY
Data describes the huge amount of collected data from
sensors. Just big data has ability to analyze and can be
used to find trends and to determine cause and effect,
and its implications for decision-making.
(3) The prediction accuracy of predictive maintenance.
After collecting large amounts of data, it is very import-
ant to use the data to take a decision about predictive
maintenance. The inaccurate decision may result in either
unnecessary maintenance, or production downtime be-
cause of unexpected machine failures.
HOW MAINTENANCE IS TAPPING
INTO INDUSTRY 4.0
Industry 4.0 was presented in 2013 as the vision for the
next industrial revolution. This was due to great advanc-
es in recent technologies and their potential to improve
manufacturing environments. Industry 4.0 described the
transition way to Artificial intelligent “Smart” industry.
To achieve industry 4.0 in the mill, three principal as-
pects “Magic Triangle” have to implemented in the pro-
cess:
1. A huge digital database will be created from the re-
sults that have been read by advanced high technology
sensors. This data collection has to be stored in a cloud
57
 COVER STORY
platform to be shared by maintenance management sys-
tem and different enterprise systems.
2. IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things): Internet of
Things enclose the idea that every sensor and machine
have ability to sending and receiving of data over the in-
ternet. The introduction of IPv6 protocol in the mid-90s
gave opportunities for an “infinite” number of devices to
be connected to the internet. Mill process machines have
to be developed to have ability for communication on
internet to maintenance management system. Instead of
collecting data from several sources separately and trying
to connect the dots, IIoT does this.
3. Fully automated process that can completely controlled
from outside the mill with machine learning technologies
has Artificial Intelligence algorithm trying to mimic, and
eventually supersede human behavior and intelligence.
If we combine CMMS with Industry 4.0’s principle
aspects, it gives an enterprise system that can access
to big data that needed to more accurate maintenance
planning. Cyber Physical Maintenance Systems (CPMS)
is a new concept introduced by Industry 4.0. This system
uses the collected data that gathered in real-time by IIoT
sensors. The advantage of predictive maintenance is that
neither too much (breakdown maintenance) nor too little
maintenance (Preventive Maintenance) should be per-
58
formed, at the same time, the middle road is very hard to
find. Thus, to prepare more accurate maintenance pro-
gram CPMS uses Artificial Intelligent algorithms like Arti-
ficial Neural Network algorithm instead of using statistic
analytical approach. Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is anoth-
er example of new algorithms. This approach determines
the potential component failures and failure ratios of
critical equipment and components. These systems in-
troduce the possibility of more intelligent maintenance
scheduling combined with reduced maintenance cost.
References:
Ravnå R. and Schjølberg P., 2016, Industry 4.0 and
Maintenance, Norsk Forening for Vedlikehold, Postboks
73, N-1325 Lysaker, Norway.
Li Z., Wang K., and He Y., 2016, Industry 4.0 – Poten-
tials for Predictive Maintenance, International Workshop of
Advanced Manufacturing and Automation, Atlantis Press.
Johson C., 2020, A Guide to Industry 4.0 Predictive
Maintenance, https://www.iotforall.com/a-guide-to-in-
dustry-4-0-predictive-maintenance/
Cousineau M., 2019, The future of maintenance: A
practical guide to Industry 4.0, https://www.fiixsoft-
ware.com/blog/industry-4-maintenance/
Williams G., 2018, Three ways Industry 4.0 can im-
prove uptime and reliability, https://www.sageauto-
mation.com/blog/three-ways-industry-4.0-can-im-
prove-uptime-and-reliability
MILLER / JULY 2020
 TAKE YOUR PLACE
IN POWER UNION

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18 -20 MARCH 2021

Istanbul Expo Center, Hall 5-6-7
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9th INTERNATIONAL
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Machinery and Pulses, Pasta, Biscuit Technologies Exhibiion
 Luigi Ferrise
Product Management Customer Service
Bühler Switzerland

Bühler sieve service - increase

yield and food safety
A sieve of a plansifter seems to be something trivial. A small
piece of a puzzle with minor impact on the overall milling
process. According to site observations this is not the case at
all. Even minor deviations from the optimum tensioning can
have a considerable impact on the bottom line.

60 MILLER / JULY 2020

 COVER STORY

Deviations of course go
in both directions - with
consequences. An over ten-
sioned sieve is less flexible
and might not operate in
the most efficient way. Also
it is prone to lose its tension
faster. Observations have
shown that already after
three months of operation,
the tension can be down to
55 % of the optimum value.
Clearly this has an effect on
plant efficiency.

If a sieve loosens its ten-

sion, the intermediate prod-
uct can be guided to the
wrong flour quality resulting
in decrease of low ash flour
extraction. In the said plant,
this value dropped by 4%.
Also overall yield was nega-
tively affected.
Professional sieve service by Bühler
Loose sieves have an im-
pact on energy too as more the globe. After a thorough cleaning, the frames undergo
pneumatic relifts for intermediary product are necessary. a thermal treatment. In this process 99.9% of germs are
That in turn influences product moisture. A reduction of up removed. The NovaPrime polyamide cloth is conditioned in
to 0.8% in moisture content was detected over the inspec- a climate chamber imitating temperature and humidity of a
tion period. sifter. Only then it is fitted over the sieve frame which pro-
vides for optimum tensioning once in operation.
Regular and professional sieve service is essential for a
profitable mill operation and also to safeguard sanitary con- For further information on professional sieve service by
ditions. This is what we offer in our service stations around Bühler, please contact milling@buhlergroup.com.

Our sieve & roll service stations around the world

MILLER / JULY 2020 61

 INTERVIEW

Nikolay Gorbachov
President of the Ukrainian Grain Association

Ukrainian grain becomes more competitive

on international market
“Ukraine produces more than 3 times more grain than we need. The grain
crop production in Ukraine grow annually. UGA`s expert foresight shows
the production growth on 100 MMT, and 70 MMT of export till the 2022
year. We have a good tendency to increase grain production and export.
We are changing our approach to production and export. Ukrainian grain
becomes more and more competitive on the international market, and we
see such changes. We see a huge potential to export our grain to Asia and
hope our trade will increase.”

62 Interview: Elena Faige Neroba MILLER / JULY 2020


Ukraine is one of the world’s top grain exporters. The
country harvested a record 75.1 million tonnes of grain in
2019, up from 70 million in 2018. Production growth has
contributed to the improved export performance of the
Blacksea country and it has become a competitive maize
and wheat exporter in the world. Given that its domestic
supplies are expected to increase faster than domestic
consumption, Ukraine's share will increase in the global
grain markets.
Miller Magazine interviewed with Nikolay Gorbachov,
President of the Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA), who
has a significant role in Ukraine's being an important ac-
tor in the international grain markets. He is President of
UGA since 2017, whose members export up to 90% of
Ukrainian grain crops annually. He previously worked as
Director for “New World Grain Ukraine” (Soufflet Group)
and as Commercial Director for “Soufflet Ukraine” in
Ukraine and Russia. Worked for various Agri trading
companies, he has more than 20 years of experience
in the Ukrainian agrarian market. He was awarded the
“Honorary Medal” by the Ukraine government in 2008
and a Diploma from the Cabinet Ministers in 2009.
Speaking to Miller Magazine Mr. Gorbachov assesses
on recent developments in the grain industry and the
prospect for Ukrainian grain exports.
Mr. Gorbachov, could you please give some infor-
mation about the Ukrainian Grain Association? What
is the mission of your Union?
The Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA) is an associa-
tion of grain producers, processors, and exporters. The
organization founded in 1998 to protect the legitimate
common interests of its members, promoting the forma-
tion and development of the grain market in Ukraine,
and creating the necessary organizational conditions for
the interaction of its members.
The members of UGA are worldwide known corpora-
tions, the biggest Ukrainian exporters, and grain manu-
factures, who export up to 90% of Ukrainian grain crops
annually. We are glad to be a partner of IGC and GAFTA.
What are the initial effects of the coronavirus out-
break on the Ukrainian grain exports? How the coro-
navirus could impact Ukrainian grain supply?
As you know, in March when quarantine started in
Ukraine, agriculture was not under any restrictions. So
the pandemic situation didn't have any impact on agricul-
ture production. But we had some trouble with the sea-
ports of our importers and some turbulence with trans-
portation. It had not a big influence, but some discomfort
we had. But it was the end of the marketing year, that’s
why we have exported almost all export volume, so it
wasn’t a problem.
Do you think Ukraine would apply the grain export
restrictions in the coming period?
MILLER / JULY 2020
INTERVIEW
There is a tradition in Ukraine. Every year UGA and
other grain market participants signed the Memorandum
of Understanding with the Ministry for Development of
Economy, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine for the new
marketing year. This year it happened on the 1st of July.
Memorandum plays an essential role in maintaining
the balance between domestic grain consumption and
the country’s export opportunities. Stability and predict-
ability are key priorities for the Ukrainian grain market
and one of the main factors of national food security.
The document contains mechanisms for the interaction
of grain market participants, exchange of information on
grain export prospects, monitoring of grain market func-
tioning.
The parties agreed to monitor the state of grain export
from Ukraine monthly. Additionally, the signed docu-
ment is designed to contribute to the stabilization of the
Ukrainian grain market by stimulating the uninterrupted
grain exports. Grain market participants will be informed
in advance about the critical grain export opportunities
as well as changes in foreign trade regimes. In addition,
Annex to the Memorandum of Understanding will be
signed in August to establish the maximum export vol-
umes of wheat in 2020/2021 MY.
The Memorandum for the new marketing year is a re-
sult of sustainable B2G cooperation between the business
community and the Ministry of Economic Development,
Trade, and Agriculture of Ukraine.
So, we don’t need any restrictions on export, because
we have such cooperation with the Government, and we
know the export volume at the beginning of the year.
Ukraine's grain exports have reached a record in the
2019/20 season. Will Ukraine be able to repeat this
success in the new season? Can you share the projec-
tions for wheat, corn and barley production for the
2020/21 season?
Nonetheless, the grain crop production in Ukraine
grow annually. UGA`s expert foresight shows the pro-
duction growth on 100 MMT, and 70 MMT of export till
the 2022 year. Ukraine is heading for these indicators, so
for the 2019/20 year, the production reached 98 MMT
and the export reached more than 62 MMT. It was a re-
cord, because of record production and export of wheat
and corn.
This year we expect the same volume of production –
97-98 MMT and export we expect will be 58 MMT. So
we expect less wheat production but more corn. And, we
hope we will have a new corn production record.
Every month, UGA publishes supply and demand bal-
ances, where we say about our main indicators and of
course we publish our forecast. This is free public infor-
mation. Everybody can read it on our website.
63
 INTERVIEW

There are concerns that Covid-19 will have lasting

impacts on international grain trade. Do you share
these concerns?
We hope everything will be OK and COVID-19 will
not have a big impact on grain trade. But we understand
that some financial troubles the pandemic can create.
But it will have not critical for the trade because every
country will try to have enough food and feed consump-
tion. Ukraine produces more than 3 times more grain
and oilseeds than we need, so we can export it without
any problems. However, economic recession all over the
world can make some turbulence on the international
market, but also we see how the government of the USA
or EU supports their economy. In Ukraine, we do not
have such financial support, but also do not have any
restrictions.

What kind of changes have you experienced in the

grain industry in recent years?
We have a good tendency to increase grain production
and export. For example, the average yield of wheat in
Ukraine is 4 t per ha and in France, it is 8. Or we have
an average yield of corn 7 t per ha and in the USA (Iowa
state, because of the same climate and weather condi-
tions) – 12 t per ha. So we understand that we have big
potential. That's why we see some tendency of changing
production technology of grain, and we are changing
our approach to production and export. Ukrainian grain
becomes more and more competitive on the internation-
al market, and we see such changes.

Ukraine is one of the most important grain produc-

ers and exporters in the world. It has been trying to
increase its exports. However, logistics problems are
limiting the Ukrainian grain trade. Could you tell us
recent investment plans and projects to solve logis-
tics problems?
Almost 95-98% of all grain export Ukraine do by its
seaports. And the main limiting factor is how to trans-
port grain from the field to the port. The main transport

64 MILLER / JULY 2020

 INTERVIEW
is the railway. We have just one state railway company,
which has some problems with the locomotives. So the
grain export is increasing, and we need more railway ca-
pacity, but the railway company cannot satisfy our needs.
We hope that in the nearest future, we will have some
competition in the railway market. We have a draft of
the law, which will make an opportunity to transport the
cargo by the private railway company. It will solve the
problem of the locomotives' deficit.
In addition, river transportation can solve the logis-
tic problem partly. We have a big river – Dnipro, which
length almost through all country – from the north to the
south. Now, we have transported more than five MMT
by the river and can increase its volume to the 30 MMT.
66
Nevertheless, we need some more infrastructure capaci-
ty. This is the nearest future, and we see how some com-
panies actively build the river terminals and buy barges.
What are the other major challenges for Ukrainian
grain exporters today?
Of course, Ukrainian exporters have some internal
problems. Mainly it is our legislation, which has a period
of adaptation to the EU legislation. But we understand
that it should become, and we cannot have another way.
Of course, we have strong competition
in the international market and some
non-tariff barriers with some countries.
But UGA makes everything possible to
solve it, and we have some success. For
example, we have reopened the Viet-
namese market for Ukrainian grain. It is
a very important market for our corn. We
have some fumigation misunderstands
with India. In addition, we are trying to
sign a phytosanitary agreement with Chi-
na and Indonesia. We see a huge poten-
tial to export our grain to Asia and hope
our trade will only increase. However, we
also see big potential to export our grain
to our neighbors – Turkey, Egypt, and the
EU. We have good communication with
such destinations and hope our trade will
be mutually beneficial.
There are no critical problems for Ukraine, which can
be like a disaster. We see the big demand for our grain
from all over the world and understand that we can sell
our grain anyway because we have good quality and a
nice price.
MILLER / JULY 2020
 INTERVIEW

Arnaud Petit
Executive Director
The International Grains Council (IGC)

Virtual IGC conference provides a platform to

address the new challenges in grain sector
“Having a digital conference and keeping an international audience was the
real challenge but we are satisfied by the number of attendees, close to 400
attendees from 54 countries. We are also satisfied with the engagement of
the trading sector. The IGC’s conference is also unique in providing a broad
platform of discussions between the public and the private sectors. A good
dialogue allows the global food system to be dynamic and address the new
challenges.”

68 Interview: Namık Kemal Parlak MILLER / JULY 2020


Due to the travel restrictions imposed by the corona-
virus pandemic, the 2020 edition of IGC Grains Confer-
ence, one of the most established events in the grains
and oilseeds sector, was held as an online virtual confer-
ence. The conference was hosted within the IGC Grain
Conference Application, a user-friendly app appreciated
by the attendees. The virtual conference comprises 13
sessions, 64 re-recorded video presentations, 39 Pow-
erPoint presentations, 13 Q&A sessions on different
themes including stimulating globalısation of the grains
sector, policy initiatives to promote globalisation, climate
change and integration in the grains value chain, trade
finance and the latest grains, oilseeds and rice market
developments. Nearly 400 delegates from more than 50
countries had registered for the event. The live Q&A ses-
sions were filled with lively debate.
Answering to Miller Magazine’s questions on the IGC’s
first digital conference, Arnaud Petit, Executive Director
of the International Grains Council (IGC), said that hav-
ing a virtual conference and keeping an international
audience was the real challenge but they are satisfied
by the number of attendees. “Despite the distance, we
managed lively debates among 64 speakers worldwide.
Having the entire value chain of the sector, from the sup-
ply industry to the trade finance is also a value-added of
the conference…Up today, the number of views is over
4200, which demonstrates the quality of the speakers.”
All the videos, PowerPoint presentations and Q&A
sessions will be accessible until December 2020. During
these times of uncertainty following the COVID-19 pan-
demic, the virtual conference provided a platform to dis-
MILLER / JULY 2020
INTERVIEW
cuss the next steps to ensure the development of global
grain trade.
Speaking at the Wheat Market Development Session,
Abdolreza Abbassian, the Secretary of the Agricultural
Market Information System (AMIS), said that despite a
drop in global wheat production, wheat markets should
remain adequately supplied in 2020/21 because of less
buoyant growth in overall demand. “Wheat trade is like-
ly to increase in 2020/21 amid uncertainties stemming
from economic/health implications of the COVID-19
pandemic remain. Wheat quotations are firmer than last
year and could strengthen further in view of tighter sup-
plies among major exporters and if the US dollar contin-
ues to weaken,” he noted.
Ryan LeGrand, President and CEO of the U.S. Grains
Council (USGC), made one of the most interesting pre-
sentations at the conference. "The flow of grain and feed
into our export channels has remained largely unhin-
dered," said LeGrand. He listed the COVID-19 short-run
impacts on the grain markets as supply-chain disruptions,
higher retail prices and lower farm-gate prices and do-
mestic farm and consumer supports. According to him,
demand loss (lower economic growth means a slower
movement of demand to middle-class diets) and shifts
in consumer demand will be medium-run impacts of the
pandemic. He also shared his expectations for the next
decade. “In the short-run, slower economic growth and
supply-chain disruptions will raise prices for consumers
and lower prices for farmers. In the long run, economic
growth will continue to outpace population growth. The
productivity of staple commodities continues to grow,
69
 INTERVIEW
fueled by technology. Movement of households into the
middle class will continue raising meat demand.”
Florent Beluche of J.S. Morgan, the U.S. investment
bank, was cautious about future demand because of the
increase in poverty. "There is definitely a shift in demand
(away from meat and other high-cost foods) but we are
also likely to see a drop in demand," said Beluche. “The
type of flow we see from producers, consumers and trade
houses has not really changed over the past few months.
Several consumers have taken advantage of low prices to
extend price cover on longer maturities. However many
stayed on the sideline as markets collapsed”.
Here is IGC Executive Director Arnaud Petit’s answers
to Miller Magazine’s questions regarding the virtual con-
ference.
International conferences and events in many dif-
ferent industries, including the grain industry, were
canceled or postponed. IGC did not cancel its annual
conference. You moved the conference to the virtual
platform. What was the motivation behind this deci-
sion?
One of the objectives of the IGC is to provide the latest
cereals, oilseeds, pulses and rice market information to
further international trade and we, therefore, considered
it was of utmost importance to go ahead with the 29th
IGC Grains Conference at this uncertain time. The IGC’s
Conference is also unique in providing a broad platform
of discussions between the public and the private sec-
70
tors. A good dialogue allows
the global food system to be
dynamic and address the new
challenges.
Are you satisfied with par-
ticipation and interest in the
virtual conference?
Having a digital conference
and keeping an internation-
al audience was the real chal-
lenge but we are satisfied by
the number of attendees, close
to 400 attendees from 54 coun-
tries. We are also satisfied with
the engagement of the trading
sector. The close collaboration
with the International Grain
Trade Coalition was fruitful. Up
today, the number of views is
over 4200, which demonstrates
the quality of the speakers. I use
this opportunity to announce
the registration is still open and
videos, presentations and Q&A
sessions will be available till De-
cember 2020.
What kind of feedback did you receive from the
delegates about the virtual conference?
Despite the distance, we managed lively debates
among 64 speakers worldwide. The effort to get a ses-
sion for each relevant cereals, oilseeds, rice and pulses
market to discuss the recent market development and
challenges for the next marketing year was definitive-
ly “a plus”. Having the entire value chain of the sector,
from the supply industry to the trade finance is also a
value-added of the conference.
In the other hand, an international conference allows
to get contacts in a nice atmosphere and face to face
meetings. That was not part of our project for this year. If
we have to run another exclusive digital conference, the
opportunity to get face to face meetings with the digital
tool would be developed.
When the world goes back to normality after the
pandemic, would you consider continuing virtual con-
ferences? What advantages does the virtual confer-
ence have?
London is an amazing hub for the grains, oilseeds and
rice sector. All services, including trade finance, are lo-
cated in here. This is why we have set up the “London
Grains Week” together with GAFTA, IGTC and AHDB.
We intend to develop a broad range of activities next
year. But the very positive experience of the digital con-
ference show there is also a place to provide as well this
type of service.
MILLER / JULY 2020
 Nicholas Trounce
Head of Product Management
Milling Solutions
Bühler Switzerland
Nicholas.trounce@buhlergroup.com

Diorit four-roller mill now also

with longitudinally split
High food and operating safety as well as low maintenance:
Bühler’s Diorit four or eight roller mill consistently and safely
grinds a variety of grains. The Diorit MDDY-600/250 four-roller
mill is now also available in a longitudinally split version.

Bühler’s Diorit MDDY/MDDZ four or ei-
ght-roller mill has proven itself since its market
launch in 2017. Thanks to its robust design,
reliable grinding and exemplary hygiene, the
Diorit is now well-established on the market as
a cost-effective yet extremely powerful grin-
ding solution. With the Diorit roller mill, wheat,
corn, rye, barley, spelt and other types of grain
can be reliably ground with high consistency.
Since it was first introduced, over 1,500 Diorit
roller mills have been sold and are used throu-
ghout the world.
Dıorıt 2019
Last year, Bühler made further improve-
ments to the Diorit, particularly in terms of its
user-friendliness. The most obvious innovation
of the new Diorit 2019 generation is its comp-
letely revised control system. The user interface
has been fully overhauled and re-designed, and
now facilitates intuitive and simple monitoring
and control of the roller mill. However, operati-
on of the 2019 generation Diorit mill is not only
possible via its newly designed touch screen
control panel; the web server integrated into
the new machine controls also allows remote
operation. So, thanks to the wireless network,
the Diorit roller mill can be operated via smart-
phone, tablet or PC. This means that the touch
screen control system is no longer necessary on
the roller mill, but is available on request as an
option. Another innovative feature on the Dio-
rit 2019 roller mill is the grinding chamber that
has been enlarged by 30 mm. This gives the
Diorit operator more room for sampling.
Dıorıt four-roller mıll wıth a
longıtudınally splıt desıgn
The Diorit 2019 is available as a four or ei-
ght-roller mill in a total of nine different models.

72 MILLER / JULY 2020

 ARTICLE

The Diorit MDDY-600/250 free stainless steel or other

four-roller mill is now avai- food-safe materials. Lockab-
lable in three different ver- le covers safeguard access to
sions, offering the flexibility the machine and ensure that
to choose between two and no contamination is able to
four milling passages. The make its way into the roller
standard version of the Dio- mill. The pivoting feeder mo-
rit four-roller mill with a rol- dule permits fast and comp-
ler length of 600 mm enab- lete product discharge and
les two milling passages. The allows easy access for clea-
new, longitudinally split ver- ning.
sion is available for one side
(L1) or for both sides (L2). The Diorit’s sturdy, durab-
On the model with one side le, cast-iron machine frame
split (L1), one side of the rol- provides an optimal base for
ler mill is split into two pas- high grinding performance in
sages of 300 mm each. This 24-hour continuous operati-
enables the four-roller mill on. The wide inlet and the
to grind three milling pas- The Diorit MDDY-600/250 is now also variable speed of the feeding
sages at the same time. On available in a single-sided or double-sided roll ensure even feeding ac-
the version with two sides ross the entire length of the
longitudinally split design
split (L2), both sides of the grinding roll, contributing to
roller mill are split into two consistent product quality.
300-mm passages each. The The compact roll pack with
Diorit MDDY-600/250/L2 four-roller mill thus has a total self-contained forces means that a high degree of set-
of four milling passages. On the side of the roller mill that ting accuracy and milling stability can be achieved. The
is split longitudinally, the inlet, feeder and control system low-wear, maintenance-friendly and silent toothed belt
are split in two. This means that the grinding properties power transmission ensures quiet, reliable, constant ope-
can be controlled individually for each passage. ration.

The MDDY-600/250 four-roller mill with rollers split
longitudinally is the ideal solution for small mills and scho-
ol mills that have a grinding capacity of between 24 and
60 tons per day.
Relıable monıtorıng
The modern sensor technology in the new generati-
on Diorit also ensures that the rollers always run in the
optimal position and at optimum speed. The Diorit roller
mill features integrated monitoring of the roller disenga-
gement function. This prevents the rollers from running
against each other if there is no product present, gene-
rating an error message where necessary. The speed mo-
nitoring of the rear milling roller checks while the mill is
operational that the toothed belt for the drive is working
properly. The optionally available, continuous monitoring
of the roller and bearing temperature triggers an alarm
immediately and stops the drive as soon as the roller or
bearing temperature rises excessively. Additional safegu-
ards provide the operating personnel with the highest le-
vel of operational safety. When using fluted rollers, Diorit
offers hand protection. This enables the operator to take
product samples in complete safety while the mill is run-
ning.
Food-safe desıgn
The Diorit roller mill is also distinguished by its outs-
tanding food safety. All parts of the Diorit roller mill that
come into contact with the product are made from rust-
The Diorit roller’s low maintenance requirements are
truly impressive. The low-wear belt overdrive ensures a
long service life and reliable continuous operation. The
Quick Pack roller package speeds up roller changes, inc-
reasing operating time and contributing to an even better
overall efficiency of the mill.
Customızed solutıons possıble
Bühler’s Diorit roller mill is available as a four or ei-
ght-roller mill with different roller lengths ranging from
600 mm to 1500 mm. The four-roller mill is also avai-
lable in versions with roller lengths of 1,000 and 1,250
millimeters and a roller diameter of 300 millimeters. This
increases the roller surface by 20% which extends the
surface life of the rollers. The grinding surface is increased
by 10% resulting in a higher flour yield in the fine semoli-
na passages and a higher proportion of fine-ground flour
and less starch damage in the smooth roller passages.
Different product inlets, scrapers and rollers can be se-
lected for all Diorit models. This means that every requ-
irement in terms of performance and throughput can be
met. The Diorit roller mill can also be adapted to individu-
al requirements with a wide range of optional additional
functions such as direct extraction and water cooling.
More information about the Diorit roller mill can be
found at:
www.buhlergroup.com/diorit

MILLER / JULY 2020 73

 Mariam Al-Hazaa
Communications Coordinator
Al Hazaa Investment Group

Al-Hasad:
The Jordanian Maize Mill
“The project of Al-Hasad Mill including its silos and other
outbuildings and facilities cost 14 million USD and took two
years to complete. The mill has today a total production
capacity of 200 ton/ day. Being the only maize mill in Jordan
made Al-Hasad Mill an important supplier of raw materials,
including maize grits and maize flour, for many chip factories
in the country. Al-Hasad Mill supplies its products to large
producers like Mr. Chips, Jordina, Hala Chips and other well-
known brands in Jordan and the region.”

Al-Hasad maize mill, which is the only maize
mill in Jordan, was established in 2016 at first
only as storage silos for its holding company
Al-Hazaa Investment Group in Dabaa area in
Jordan. The mill’s activities were initially confi-
ned to grain storage and grain trading through
its eight storage silos that were supplied by the
Brazilian company Kepler Weber, with a total
storage capacity of 60,000 tons. Later Al-Hazaa
Investment Group decided to expand Al-Hasad
mill’s activeness and build a yellow corn mill to
include the production of maize goods in order
to meet the needs and continuous changes of
the Jordanian market.

74 MILLER / JULY 2020

 ARTICLE

ze mill in Jordan made Al-Hasad Mill an important supplier

It is worth mentioning that Al-Hazaa Investment Group
opened for business in the early 1940s with one flour mill
in Iraq, since then the group strived to build strong foun-
dations and relationships in major markets, the group’s
history in the field of food production exceeds 70 years.
The company now works across the Middle East in Jor-
dan, Iraq, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Cyprus in
various sectors and industries ranging from grain milling,
storage and trading, pasta and noodles production, ani-
mal feed and plastic industry to energy engineering.
The project of Al-Hasad Mill including its silos and ot-
her outbuildings and facilities cost 14 million USD and
took two years to complete. The mill has today a total
production capacity of 200 ton/ day. This is the result
of the distinctive efforts of Al-Hazaa Investment Group
and its responsible management represented by its CEO,
Mr. Jamal Al-Hazaa, who is continuously shouldering the
success of the group. Sustainability and environmental
responsibility are the
core of our group and
therefore all our pro-
ject in Jordan inclu-
ding Al-Hasad mill are
eco-friendly, operating
with 100% clean ener-
gy that is generated
from Al-Hazaa Group’s
solar power plant,
Al-Hazaa Company for
Renewable Energy is
the biggest, private-u-
se solar power plant in
Jordan.
Being the only mai-
of raw materials, including maize grits and maize flour, for
many chip factories in the country instead of importing them
from Turkey and Europe. Al-Hasad Mill supplies its products
to large producers like Mr. Chips, Jordina, Hala Chips and
other well-known brands in Jordan and the region.
Products of Al-Hasad Mill include fine maize grits
(108), coarse maize grits (101), gluten-free corn flour,
corn germ and corn bran, the mill’s extraction rate is 75%
for flour, fine and coarse maize grits while the rest 25% is
divided between corn germ (7%) and corn bran (18%).
Another important market for Al-Hasad Mill is the signi-
ficant increase in consumption of gluten-free products in
Jordan and the region, which led to an increased demand
especially for the mill’s corn flour and corn germ. The
outstanding products of Al-Hasad Mill are an inevitable
outcome, as the company doesn’t only put immense ef-
forts on its quality control department but also uses the
best raw materials from excellent origins and operates the
latest, most advanced
technology in the field
of grain milling. Ac-
curacy and quality are
highly sought-after at
all facilities owned by
Al-Hazaa Investment
Group; therefore, the
company always tur-
ns to its Swiss partner,
Bühler AG to supply its
mills with all their nee-
ds for state-of-the-art
machinery, Al-Hazaa
Investment Group is
also Bühler’s agent in
the Iraqi market.

MILLER / JULY 2020 75

 ARTICLE

Al-Hazaa Investment Group seeks to always improve into contact with water, which has a hygienic advantage
its operations and meet the highest international standar- compared to wet degermination. Because the process do-
ds in food safety, quality and technology. Al-Hasad mill esn’t require the addition of water or pre-conditioning with
works according to the Quality Management System ISO steam, the operating costs are less. The product is handled
9001 and Food Management Systems ISO 22000. gently so the germ, epidermis and endosperm are neatly
separated with a minimal amount of fines, resulting in pure
All processes at Al-Hasad Maize Mill are fully automatic products with a consistent high quality. Finally, the corn is
without any human touch to maintain high safety and ground in roller mills from Bühler.
hygiene levels, starting from the fully automatic Intake
process for grains and maize until packaging the final Products are then packaged in 25-kg and 50-kg wo-
products and transporting them to consumers. Maize is ven polypropylene bags supplied by the Group’s plastic
usually imported from Brazil, Argentina and the United factory in Jordan, the New Plastic Industrial Co. or in
States through Aqaba port and is transported then by tru- one-tonne bulk packages for the use of big factories. The
cks to the mill for storage. The silos at Al-Hasad Mill are New Plastic Industrial Co. was established in 2006 and
equipped with appropriate ventilation systems to keep produces 150 million bags every year for packing flour,
the high-specification corn moist and maintain the best rice, sugar, legumes, cement and others.
possible conditions.
All applied procedures and used machines help to ac-
Then the imported corn is sifted in the cleaning secti- hieve the best extraction rate, high-quality production and
on of the mill, the Swiss technology applied at the mill low consumption of energy. Al-Hasad mill fits nicely into
enables efficient Al-Hazaa Group’s
removal of stones existing businesses;
and other impu- the storage silos
rities accurately provide the maize
through Bühler’s mill with its corn
newest optical sor- needs while the
ter, SORTEX, and products and by-
other complemen- products produced
tary devices. After at the mill are used
cleaning, the corn in the feed mill
germ is extracted that belongs to the
by the MHXM-M Al-Hazaa group,
corn degerminator Global Feed Mill,
that helps maintain that produces two
a low level of fat types of feed, catt-
through dry deger- le and poultry, for
mination. During the Jordanian mar-
this type of deger- ket as well as some
mination, the pro- exports to neigh-
duct does not come boring markets.

76 MILLER / JULY 2020

 Pedro Amaral Ellen Griffiths
Proforest Proforest

The Soy Toolkit:

Resources to help companies
address deforestation and
human rights risks in the
supply chain
“The Soy Toolkit is a programme developed by Proforest which
aims to provide soy traders, soy buying companies and retailers
with information on the tools and resources necessary for them
to source soy responsibly. This means decoupling the production
and trade of soy from social and environmental issues.”

Brazil is the now the world’s largest soy pro-
ducer and exporter and is expected to remain
in this leading position over the coming crop
years . However, Brazil accounted for a third of
the world’s tropical primary forest loss in 2019
and most of it was deemed illegal according to
a recent analysis . Soy is considered to be the
second largest driver of deforestation globally
by some research , but there are also geospatial
analyses showing that soy expansion did not
happen at the expense of native vegetation loss
in many areas.
There is growing scrutiny from civil society,
media, investors and downstream companies –
many of which made pledges not to buy soy

78 MILLER / JULY 2020

 ARTICLE

associated with deforestation

– as to what extent soy as an
ingredient or feed is associa-
ted with environmental (and
social) issues.

How can companies in the

soy supply chain evidence
that they are not trading soy
which is associated with de-
forestation, native vegetation
conversion or human rights
violations? We would expect
most of the soy grown in Bra-
zil not to be associated with
such issues. However, the
only way to demonstrate that
is by scrutinising the supp-
ly chain, and there are many
resources for companies to do
this in Brazil.

The Soy Toolkit is a prog-

ramme developed by Profo-
rest which aims to provide soy
traders, soy buying companies
and retailers with information
on the tools and resources ne-
can help companies to implement these policies around a
cessary for them to source soy responsibly. This means
5-element approach to responsible sourcing, outlined in
decoupling the production and trade of soy from social
the figure below:
and environmental issues.
For each element of the Soy Toolkit we outline resour-
The Soy Toolkit organises the wealth of resources that
ces that already exist, helping companies to increase their
capacity to implement
their commitments by
building on existing
initiatives. It shows
companies how to ac-
cess data and methods
to engage with supp-
liers and trace the soy
they purchase, how to
use purchase control
systems to flag when
suppliers might not
comply with their poli-
cies, and the best prac-
tices in monitoring and
reporting on progress to
stakeholders.

Some examples
of resources
and ınıtıatıves
The Amazon Soy Mo-
ratorium is an agree-
ment signed in 2006 to
ensure that soy produc-

MILLER / JULY 2020 79

 ARTICLE
tion in the Amazon region only occurs on existing agricul-
tural land and not through deforestation or conversion of
native vegetation. It has been successful in helping reduce
80
soy-related deforestation in the Amazon.
Anyone who buys soy from Brazil should check that
they are buying from a company that is
a signatory to the moratorium: If they
are, the buyer should ask for the audit
reports to see if they are 100 percent
compliant, and if they are not, the bu-
yer can take action on it. If they are not
a signatory, then the buyer should ask
them to become a signatory. The mora-
torium provides a credible and successful
framework to demonstrate that, whene-
ver you are trading soy from the Ama-
zon, it is deforestation-free.
The Forest Code obliges a landowner
to protect from at least 20 to 80 per-
cent of their land as native vegetation,
depending where the property is lo-
cated. Under the farm registry system
the government provides online access
to every single farm boundary, as well
as information on protected areas. This
provides people with an unprecedented
level of transparency with over 5 million
properties enrolled – more than 90 per-
cent of all the properties in the country.
MILLER / JULY 2020

If you are a trader, you can ask your supplier for
the registry number. You can then use this number on
the system to see, for instance, if their registry is acti-
ve, pending or cancelled. If it is cancelled, it could be
because the farm overlays with protected areas like an
indigenous territory.
The Federal Environmental Agency maintains a list of
environmental embargoes, some of which are because
of illegal deforestation. IBAMA puts in the public domain
areas that that have been found to be breaching our envi-
ronmental laws. If you buy soybeans directly from the far-
mer, you can cross-check your supplier name with this list.
Another example is the Public Prosecutor’s Office web-
site, which includes lawsuits related to environmental and
social issues like land conflicts. It will show you if you are
buying from someone who has a lawsuit outstanding.
There are many other initiatives and resources we fe-
ature in the Soy Toolkit. We have mapped over 100 of
them, including tools that can help you with traceabi-
lity, continuous improvement programmes for farmers,
or information on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) re-
lated to policy implementation being reported by supp-
ly chain companies.
This snapshot of the sort of tools and resources ava-
ilable can help to give companies a flavour of how the
Soy Toolkit can help them to implement their responsib-
le sourcing policies for soy produced in Brazil. We are
able to offer free-of-charge training sessions for compa-
nies – please see www.soytoolkit.net for details of how
to request this.
The Soy Toolkit has been developed by Proforest as
part of the Good Growth Partnership’s Responsible De-
mand Project, thanks to financial support from the Global
MILLER / JULY 2020
ARTICLE
Environment Facility (GEF) through World Wildlife Fund
(WWF).
References
USDA, 2020. Available at: https://apps.fas.usda.gov/
psdonline/app/index.html#/app/advQuery
Global Forest Watch, 2020. Available at: https://blog.
globalforestwatch.org/data-and-research/global-tree-
cover-loss-data-2019/
Mapbiomas, 2020. Available at: http://alerta.mapbio-
mas.org/en/relatorios?cama_set_language=en
Pendrill et al, 2019, Deforestation displaced: tra-
de in forest-risk commodities and the prospects for a
global forest transition (https://iopscience.iop.org/ar-
ticle/10.1088/1748-9326/ab0d41); Carneiro Filho et
al, 2016, The expansion of soybean production in the
Cerrado (https://www.inputbrasil.org/wp-content/up-
loads/2016/11/The-expansion-of-soybean-producti-
on-in-the-Cerrado_Agroicone_INPUT.pdf); Henders et
al, 2015, Trading forests: land-use change and carbon
emissions embodied in production and exports of fo-
rest-risk commodities (https://iopscience.iop.org/artic-
le/10.1088/1748-9326/10/12/125012/meta); Gasparri
et al, 2014, The Coupling of South American Soybean and
Cattle Production Frontiers: New Challenges for Conser-
vation Policy and Land Change Science (https://conbio.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/conl.12121);
Arima et al, 2011, Statistical confirmation of indirect land
use change in the Brazilian Amazon (https://iopscience.
iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/6/2/024010/meta).
Agrosatelite, 2020, Available at: https://agrosatelite.
com.br/cases/#expansao-agricola. ABIOVE, 2020, ava-
ilable at: https://abiove.org.br/en/relatorios/morato-
ria-da-soja-relatorio-12o-ano/.
See Forest 500 (https://forest500.org/), CDP (https://
www.cdp.net/en), Supply Change (http://supply-change.
org/), Cerrado Manifesto Statement of Support (https://
cerradostatement.fairr.org/).
81
Cameroon

Cameroon
Area: 475,440 square kilometer
Population: 27.7 million
Capital: Yaounde
Official language: French, English
Currency: Central African Franc
GDP: $89.54 billion (PPP)
GDP per capita: $3,700 (PPP)
Exports: $4.732 billion
Imports: $4.812 billion
 Cameroon

Cameroon:
A bridge between
West and
Central Africa
Agriculture is the main pillar of
Cameroon's economy. The sector is
employing an estimated 70 per cent
of the country's workforce, while
providing 42 per cent of its GDP.
Food crop production remains one
of the principal agricultural activities
in Cameroon, with corn being one
of the dominantly cultivated grain
crop across the national territory.
Corn production in the country
increased from 263 tons in 1970
to 2,100 tons in 2019, growing at
an average annual rate of 5.84%.
However, there are concerns over
2020 cropping season in Northwest
and Southwest regions due to
insecurity.
MILLER / JULY 2020 83
 Cameroon

the country's workforce, while provid-

ing 42 per cent of its GDP and 30 per
cent of its export revenue. Agriculture is
considered a key tool for ensuring food
security. Cameroon is well known for its
climatic, geographic and ecological di-
versity, which enables farmers to grow
a wide variety of crops. However, agri-
culture has so far been unable to fully
achieve its objectives. Indeed, Cam-
eroon continues to import agricultural
products despite its immense potential.
Like many other countries in sub-Saha-
ran Africa, Cameroon is dependent on
food imports to feed its population, de-
spite a huge potential to produce its own
food. Main agricultural products include
plantains, cattle meat, cocoa beans, taro,
Cameroon is a lower-middle-income country with a
bananas, corn, fresh vegetables and groundnuts. Its prima-
population of over 25 million. Located along the Atlantic
ry export crops are cocoa, cotton, coffee, bananas, rubber
Ocean, the triangle-shaped country shares its borders with
and palm oil.
Chad, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Ga-
bon, and Nigeria. Two of its border regions with Nigeria are
The country's ecologies range from sudano-sahelian in
Anglophone, while the rest of the country is Francophone.
the far north to sub-equatorial rainforest in the far south,
Measuring about 700 km east to west and 1,200 km from
via Guinean wooded and grassy savannahs high and low in
north to south, Cameroon covers an area of 475,442 km².
the center, and mountain, highland and coastal ecologies
It forms a bridge between West Africa and Central Africa.
in the west.
Having enjoyed several decades of stability, for many years
now Cameroon has been grappling with attacks by Boko
Food crop types change from cereals in the north, main-
Haram in the Far North and a secessionist insurgency in the
ly sorghum and corn, to yams and cassava in the center,
Anglophone regions.
but still with substantial corn, to increasing dependence on
cassava as well as plantain towards the south and west,
Cameroon is the largest economy in the Central African
again with the ubiquitous corn. But there are also many
Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC), a region
niche areas and products, as well as fish from the major
experiencing an economic crisis triggered by the steep fall
rivers, from lakes and barrages, and from the sea.
in oil prices. With a strategic location that makes the coun-
try a natural gateway into the landlocked region of Cen-
Food crop production remains one of the principal agri-
tral Africa (including Chad, Central African Republic and
cultural activities in Cameroon, with corn being one of the
northern Congo), Cameroon is an influential country in the
dominantly cultivated grain crop across the national terri-
economic and monetary community of Central Africa.
tory. Apart from being a source of staple food for a good
number of village communities especially in the Northwest
IMMENSE AGRICULTURAL POTENTIAL
and Western parts of the country, it also provides food for
Despite exogenous shocks and security challenges, Cam-
animals and serves as a raw material for a number of in-
eroon’s economy grew an estimated
4.1% in 2019 thanks to a dynamic ter-
tiary sector and growth in consumption
and investment. Growth is projected to
remain around 4% in 2020 before slow-
ing to 3.4% in 2021. The persistence of
security problems, specifically Boko Ha-
ram, in the far north and sociopolitical
tensions in the northwest and southwest
are affecting the economy, with trans-
port, hospitality, telecommunications,
and commercial agriculture recording
significant material and financial losses.

Agriculture is the main pillar of Cam-

eroon's economy. The sector is em-
ploying an estimated 70 per cent of

84 MILLER / JULY 2020


dustries, especially the brewery industry. Corn production
in the country increased from 263 tons in 1970 to 2,100
tons in 2019, growing at an average annual rate of 5.84%.
According to FAO’s last Cameroon report, there are con-
cerns over 2020 cropping season in Northwest and South-
west regions due to insecurity. Seasonal rains started on
time at the beginning of March in southern parts of the
country, allowing the beginning of planting activities of the
2020 main season corn crop, to be harvested from July.
In the uni modal rainfall areas of the North, planting of
sorghum and millet is expected to begin in May. Insecurity
and displacements in the Northwest and Southwest regions
are expected to continue affecting agricultural activities
and limit farmers’ access to fields.
In the bimodal Centre and South regions, harvesting
of the 2019 secondary season corn crop was completed
in January 2020, while the main season corn harvest was
concluded in September 2019. In the uni modal North
and Far North regions, where sorghum and millet crops
are predominantly grown, harvesting of the 2019 crops
finalized last November. Adequate and well distributed
rains during the season, coupled with a slight increase
in plantings, resulted in a near average national cereal
MILLER / JULY 2020
Cameroon
output in 2019, estimated at about 3.4 million tonnes.
In Northwest and Southwest Anglophone regions, per-
sisting civil unrest disrupted agricultural practices and ham-
pered farmers’ access to land. In these regions, production
of crops in 2019 is estimated well below the five year av-
erage level.
In the Far North Region, despite the civil unrest that
spread from neighbouring Nigeria since late 2014, the
2019 cereal output is estimated at near average levels due
to overall favourable weather conditions and a slight in-
crease in planted area. However, below average outputs
were obtained in the districts of Zina, Maga, Gobo and
Kai Kai, along the Lagone river, where excessive cumula-
tive precipitation amounts in September and October 2019
caused flooding with damage to standing crops and har-
vested grains.
CORN
Cameroon produced 2.3 million tons of corn in
2019/2020 season according to Business in Cameroon
magazine. This production was unable to meet national
demand, which, stood at a little over 2.8 million tons.
This means that during the period under review, the
85
 Cameroon

country recorded a deficit of more than 500,000 tons. volume was supposed to enable the production of about
“This deficit, which has persisted for several years, often 715,000 tons of flour this year, representing an 8.3%
forces brewing companies to resort to imports to meet year-over-year increase in production.
their corn grits needs. The same applies to the poultry
industry, for which corn constitutes up to 80% of prov- ABOUT 2.6 MILLION
ender, the main chicken feed.” Due to this discrepancy PEOPLE SEVERELY FOOD INSECURE
between national corn production and the needs of in- Conflict remains the major driver of food insecurity
dustries and the population, the Cameroonian govern- as it affects households’ livelihoods and access to food,
ment created the national support programme for the Corn Production,
significantly disrupting Consumption
agricultural and Import
activities and intrig-
corn sector a few years ago. gering the increase in staple Cameroon (1000 Tons)
food prices. In Northwest
and Southwest Anglophone regions, fighting between
2017/18 2018/19 2019/20
RICE security forces and separatist armed groups persists
Cameroon is also import-dependent country in rice, since its eruption in October 2016.
Production 2345 2100 2100
importing over 80% of its rice consumption. Cameroon
Consumption 2300 2300 2200
imports approximately 650,000 tons rice into the country The security situation remains precarious also in Far
each year, while only 135,000 tons of rice is locally pro- North Region, where Imports
incursions of Boko 15 15 increased
Haram 30
duced. To make up the deficit, the government offers tech- between NovemberSource: 2019 USDAand January 2020 resulting in

nical and financial support to cooperatives and agro-indus- new population displacements. As of end January, about
tries for the production of quality seeds, the vulgarization 680 000 people were estimated to be internally displaced
of modern rice production technics and the improvement in Northwest and Southwest regions and 297 000 in Far
of harvesting and post-harvest techniques through various North Region, about 25 percent and 10 percent, respec-
projects. tively, above the number estimated in October 2019. Ac-
Sorghum Production, Consumption and
cording to the March 2020 “Cadre Harmonisé” analysis
Import in Cameroon (1000 Tons)
FEAR OF WHEAT FLOUR SHORTAGE Corn Production, Consumption and Import in
, about 2.6 million people (11 percent of the population)
Cameroon’s demand for wheat flour will be Cameroon higher (1000wereTons)
estimated to be severely food insecure.
2017/18 2018/19 2019/20
than projections this year because of the current health
2017/18 2018/19 2019/20
crisis caused by the coronavirus. Business in Cameroon On 17 March 2020, the government
Production 1416 announced
1200 1200the
claims that the country could experienceProduction
a surge in the2345 immediate 2100 adoption of measures 1441
2100 Consumption to limit 1225
the spread
1225 of
price of flour or a shortage. These fearsConsumption
are motivated2300 COVID-19, 2300
including the closure of borders, with the ex-
2200 Imports 25 25 25
by the decision taken by Russia, world's largest wheat ception of cargo ships and flights bringing food and essen-
Imports 15 15 30 Source: USDA
exporter and Cameroon's main supplier, to suspend its tial items. Although access to food seems not to be affect-
Source: USDA
exports until July 1, 2020. The Cameroonian govern- ed by these measures, further restrictions on population
ment initially planned to import around 900,000 tons movements could hamper access to land and negatively
of wheat in 2020 against 830,000 tons in 2019. This impact 2020 agricultural production.

Corn Production, Consumption and Import in Sorghum Production, Consumption and Rice Production, Consumption and Import in
Cameroon (1000 Tons) Import in Cameroon (1000 Tons) Cameroon (1000 Tons)

2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20

Production 2345 2100 2100 Production 1416 1200 1200 Production 210 230 230
Consumption 2300 2300 2200 Consumption 1441 1225 1225 Consumption 760 850 870
Imports 15 15 30 Imports 25 25 25 Imports 550 620 640
Source: USDA Source: USDA Source: USDA

86 MILLER / JULY 2020

Sorghum Production, Consumption and
Import in Cameroon (1000 Tons) Rice Production, Consumption and Import in
 XXI International Grain Round
‘Grain Market – Yesterday,
Today, Tomorrow’
September 22 – 25, 2020
Gelendzhik, Russia

XXI

2020

Russian Grain Union

7, Staraya Basmannaya St., building 2, office 8,
Moscow, Russia, 105064
+7 (495) 369-44-53, +7 (977) 972-97-40
rzs@grun.ru, tag@grun.ru
 MARKET ANALYSIS

88 MILLER / JULY 2020

 MARKET ANALYSIS

Elena Faige Neroba

Business Development Manager
Maxigrain

Happy new year

A new grain year has begun. It carries fewer
risks of the coronavirus - the business is
used to working in a new reality. Harvesting
campaign in the Black Sea and US is in full
swing, and trade depends on estimates
of production, harvesting rates, and crop
quality. Russia harvested more than 3
MMT of grain, Ukraine - more than 1
MMT . Forecasts are becoming increasingly
pessimistic.

A new grain year has begun. It carries fewer risks of the coro-
navirus - the business is used to working in a new reality. Har-
vesting campaign in the Black Sea and US is in full swing, and
trade depends on estimates of production, harvesting rates, and
crop quality. Russia harvested more than 3 MMT of grain, Uk-
raine - more than 1 MMT . Forecasts are becoming increasingly
pessimistic.

While there is a battle with the weather in the fields, in the

cabinets there is also a struggle for the crop. As of July 1, offici-
ally forecast for wheat production, and now it is the most inte-
resting in the cash market, is absent in Ukraine. And, therefore,
there is no understanding of export potential. The representative
of USDA in Ukraine in the last of the published "field" reports
the decree n digits, far from the expectations of all associations,
analysts and other authoritative experts: 24,7 MMT the Crimea
(310 thousand hectares of winter wheat only, albeit with a yield
of 3 t / ha, it is almost 1MMT), and 15.4MMT of export potenti-

MILLER / JULY 2020 89

 MARKET ANALYSIS

al. The market expects 25 -26 wheat MMT on controlled second largest minimum soft wheat crop in France since
Ukraine territories. 2004.

Wheat production in Russia is also overestimated. IKAR Jordan purchased 60kMT Romanian 12.5% wheat in
forecasts a yield of 78 MMT (instead of 79.5). Refinitiv November at $ 236.95 / MT. Egypt at the next tender
estimates production at 79.2 MMT (+2% from previ- purchased 230 kMT of Russian 12% wheat with delivery
ous expectations), SovEcon lowered expectations to 80.9 August 8-18 at 1-3 USD / MT cheaper than the previous
MMT (instead of 82.7) due to drought in the southern tender. Thailand has announced a tender for the supply
regions. It is pos-
sible that “targe-
ted” quotas will be
applied. Bulgaria’s
production is offi-
cially estimated by
the government at
4-4.1 MMT, and
much less by local
analysts. A year
before the elec-
tion, according
to market partici-
pants, the gover-
nment does not
want to recognize
its own insolven-
cy and does not
recognize the fact
that in some regi-
ons, productivity
has fallen by half.
Romanian crop
expectations vary
widely. Local players rate it at no more than 5MMT, as of 193kMT of wheat. Grain is requested in three batches
the country's leadership has previously stated, and Coce- from October to December, of optional origin, with the
ral and USDA forecasts are more optimistic and fluctuate exception of Russia, Brazil and Pakistan . Thus, Egypt is
around 8MMT. restrained by the news about the growth of supply, first
lowering purchase prices, but increasing procurement
The state of winter wheat in the USA GD / EX decre- volumes.
ased to 51% compared to 64% last year. However, the
pace of cleaning progressed from 41% to 56%, against
42% at the same date last year, but this corresponds to The EU exports wheat at a record pace. Compared to
a 5% average of 55%. The French Ministry of Agricul- last season, 68% more were sold in 2019/20. Austra-
ture predicts that soft wheat harvest in France will fall to lia has signed a cooperation agreement with Indonesia.
31.31 MMT, or 21% from last year's 39.55 MMT. This After a deterioration in relations with China and in light
will be 12.4% below the 5-year average and will be the of a decrease in Indonesia's purchases of Australian whe-

90 MILLER / JULY 2020

 MARKET ANALYSIS

at, whose yield this year is projec-

ted 40% higher than the past, this
news inspires optimism for Austra-
lian producers.

After the publication of the qu-

arterly report of planted areas in
the United States and the strengt-
hening of the cost of oil, as well as
the continued growth of ethanol
production in the States, corn on
the Chicago Stock Exchange stren-
gthened in value. They supported
the corn price and news about the
activity of China. But this informa-
tion seems small compared with the
overproduction of grain on a global
scale. The state of corn crops in the
corn belt is satisfactory.
le more than 2 million at the date of the report was still
If the initial expectations of 97 million acres of corn in process. It's clear that the corn rushed. But what about
and seemed overpriced, the well is not the same. Before “nobody needs ethanol,” “meat is gone,” you ask? Yes,
publication they waited, well, if not 97, even 95 million all the same. Therefore, this support may be temporary .
acres. And here they took and showed 92, of which a litt- By the way , about ethanol . Airbus say that air travel will

MILLER / JULY 2020 91

 MARKET ANALYSIS
finally recover no earlier than 2025. In the United States,
71% of crops are in good and excellent condition, which
exceeds the 5-year average. Egypt for the first time in 2
years bought a 49kMT boat of American corn. The EU
has again zeroed the import duty on corn. The reserves
of corn in the northern ports of China are minimal for the
last 5 years, although their seasonal period begins.
According to FAS USDA, COFCO, by September, buy
another 1 MMT of corn of optional origin. At the same
time, 6.6 MMT of the tariff quota has already been used.
Private companies bought about 2.8 MMT of corn, and
COFCO - 1.5 MMT in the USA and about 0.5 MMT in
Ukraine. China's corn market activity may be a longer
support factor.
Brazil seasonally leaves the soybean market (whose
supply, due to high production, still exceeds last year's)
and goes to the corn market.
Barley in the United States was also sown less than ex-
pected. What the Chinese will get there is not clear, they
themselves would be enough. According to FAS USDA
forecasts, imports for 2020/21 will decrease by 500,000
tons to 5.5 million tons due to barriers to the import of
Australian barley. From January to April this year, China
imported 1.43 million tons of barley, which is 43.7 per-
cent less than the same period last year.
The French Ministry of Agriculture predicts a barley
crop in France in 2020 at 12.33MMT, which is 10.3%
lower than last year. Expectations of production of winter
barley fell to 7.8 MMT compared with the forecast of
92
8.17 MMT last month.
Canada expects to take Australia's place in the Chi-
nese barley market. Despite expectations of a decline
in production from 11.8 MMT last season to 9.7 MMT
in 20/21, barley exports from Canada could grow by 1
MMT.
The variability of the correspondence of USDA fore-
casts to the final figures can be compared with the at-
tempt of Nate Silver to analyze forecasts in the McLa-
ughlin Group political show. Briefly - this is a talk show
where smart people answer completely different ques-
tions from McLaughin, and in the end he asks them to
make a forecast on some issue that was relevant at the
time of the broadcast. In general, one week before the
Obama election, all the participants in the show, except
for one, bet on McCain. For different reasons. And a
week after Obama's victory , McLaughin gathered them
again and no one remembered his unsuccessful forecast,
only explaining after the fact his vision of losing to John
McCain. In general, it hooked Silver and he hello everyt-
hing in a tabular form. It turned out that “absolutely pre-
cisely” 39% of the forecasts came true, and “absolutely
incorrectly” - 37%. With the same success, you can toss
a coin. Why a coin? Then I will strain you with a theory.
The more analysts give clarifications and modifications to
their forecasts, the higher the chance that one of them
will hit the bull's-eye? “ Oh player error” is that many
people misinterpret the law of large numbers. Coins,
roulette wheels and dice have no memory of the past.
Their behavior is not affected by what happened to them
yesterday. And whether there is a memory in the market?
MILLER / JULY 2020