Growing market
for Grain
'Rabobank is making an enormous contribution
to tbis very important sector' - Ray Mac Sbarry
World Grain Conference 1995
Former EU commissioner for agriculture Mac Sharry was not the only participant
at the World Grain Conference to be full of praise for the bank's commitment to
food and agribusiness. Over 200 clients and prospects gathered in Madrid for an
event which, now in its second year, can only be described as almost a tradition.
Following last year's fruit conference, grain and every aspect of its production,
processing, trading and prospects were the focus. A fine erop of speakers
yielded discussion, debate and a lot of business.
What's NewS Issue 1 Aprill 995
Hosted by the bank's strategie alliance part
ner Banco Popular and organized by
Marketing Services, Agribusiness Research
and the staff of Popular Rabobank, the
conference's guest list was impressive
Spain's minister of agriculture, trading a
wave of journalists in his wake like a fine-
meshed fishing net, opened the conference
with compliments for a bank whose 'aim is
to finance trade flows of this extremely
important commodity'.
Rabobank has a reputation for commit
ment, of course. But it is also known for its
tendency to keep a low profile. The world
conferences on specific sectors are one time
when we really push the boat out and dis
play the extent of our knowledge and in-
sight into global agribusiness. Besides key-
note speaker Mac Sharry, the panel came
from a variety of areas within the grain in-
dustry. A number of major Rabobank
clients were willing to speak on their speci
fic business and its prospects. Norman Hay
of Cargill International had generated a
model to examine the key factors which
will influence the size of trade flows.
Goodman Fielder's Barry Weir talked us
through the food industry and the grain
market. The compound feed industry was
the province of Richard van Wijnbergen
of Nutreco.
Perhaps the most surprising contribution
came from Donna French Dunn of the US
Feed Grains Council. Her paper outlined
the potential growth in environmentally
friendly industrial uses for grain, especially
through the type of bio-industrial processes
currently in development in the US.
TRADE CONSENSUS
While the program was rich in often
specialized information, all the speakers,
including Rabobank's own Herman Wijf
fels, concurred on a number of the most
important points. All emphasized the need
for transparency of information within the
industry and all predicted real growth in
Asia. In fact, their conclusions echoed
those forecast in the bank's own study of
the world grain sector published last year.
GLOBAL DEMAND
A further point was the continued develop
ment of purpose-grown grain varieties for
specific uses. However, real growth, also
in basic grain products, will certainly come
from developing nations. 'Demand is rising,
especially in countries like China,' said Car-
gill's Hay, 'the question is how can the
producers keep up with demand.' Van Wijn
bergen argued that it was not enough to
recognize growth markets and leave it at
that. 'We should already be there, explo-
ring the markets and finding reliable local
partners with whom we can build long
term relationships. We're not doing that
yet.' Latin America and Argentina in par-
ticular was also perceived as a real growth
area, but more as an increasingly impor
tant exporter. Forecasts for the former eas-
tern bloc were cautious and remain pessi-
mistic, even for countries such as Poland
which is developing relatively rapidly.
COMPLETE OVERVIEW
The final discussion touched on all these
points and many other points. Participants
agreed the day had covered all the major
issues comprehensively. 'I feel as if I now
have a complete overview of the grain sec
tor and its interconnections,' said Ewalt
Wermuth of the Dutch Margarine, Fats
and Oils Board, who attended the con
ference with a view to organizing a similar
event on oilseeds in cooperation with the
bank. 'It's not my field, but I was sur-
prised by the clear view on the sector's
prospects and on the consensus among all
the speakers on growth areas.'
BUSINESS PROSPECTS
Other participants had come to Madrid
for other reasons. One Maroccan agri-
cooperative director was looking for con-
tacts with exporters. 'We've been hit badly
by drought,' he explained, 'so we're
looking to import barley. This seemed an
ideal opportunity to make some business
contacts and meet others in the trade.'
REAL STYLE
The reception room at host Banco Pop-
ular's head office was still buzzing with
conversation as the 'farewell drink' wound
to a close. Perhaps the French cereal
trader summed up the whole conference
best as he stood in the warm Madrid even-
ing sunshine and said: 'This is a really im
portant initiative by Rabobank. It is what
relationship banking is all about. It shows
the bank has real style. When I saw the
program of speakers, I thought I simply
shouldn't miss it.'
