Global Grains

Basis Commodities MD, Chris Whitwell has just returned from a trip to the Middle East to formally welcome our new GM in Dubai, Nader Hassan to the business and to speak at the annual IAOM Middle East Operative Millers Conference on the island of Zanzibar, Tanzania. This is the 17th he’s attended. With over 525 people…

With in-person industry events back on the cards, it was the promise of a conference committed to looking forward and to addressing a range of topics important to the industry currently that saw our Chris Whitwell on a plane to Geneva for GrainCOM 2022. As you would expect, a key focus was the impact the…

The 2021/22 harvest is behind us and now comes the task of moving this record crop to its destination, whether that be to domestic end users or via the export pathway. We knew logistics would be strained given the sheer size of the Australian crop, however this has been exacerbated by the added pressure of mother nature.

With countries that are commonly relied upon to supply wheat to the world experiencing droughts, political unrest, export caps, tariffs, and war, an already tight grains balance sheet seems to be getting tighter and supply problems are mounting. Is this higher priced environment set to last longer than three to six months? And how will this impact how the Middle East approach their food security needs into the future?

In October 2020, it was estimated the total urban population in the Middle East was 65% of the total regional population, 10% above the global average of 55% and continuing to grow at an average of 2% per annum. Urbanisation often leads to increased access to economic, and social benefits as well as increased food…

The 2021/22 Australian harvest was set to be a bumper in terms of quality and quantity until La Niña reared its head and changed the game for many farmers on the east coast of Australia, and in turn, the global milling wheat balance sheet.