Dreyfus Commodities hit by ‘erratic’ grain markets

Louis Dreyfus Commodities, the privately owned grain trading giant, has blamed “erratic” conditions in global grain markets for the 11% decline in half-year sales to $23.5bn. The decline in sales comes despite a 1% increase in grain volumes shipped in the first half of the year. The group said the weak price environment for most agri-commodities was reflected in the decline in the group’s profitability in the first half of the year.

Operating profits for the six months to the end of June 2016 declined more than 14% to $546m, with margins shrinking slightly to 2.3%. The group’s pre-tax profits for the period fell 15% to $151m.

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Dreyfus chief executive Gonzalo Ramirez Martiarena described the results as “reasonable”, especially given the context of massive oversupply in global grain markets right now. The group, which is 165 years in business, said the absence of any significant grain supply disruptions around the world left few commercial opportunities for its grain sourcing and transportation business.

Dreyfus Commodities is one of the ABCD (Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge, Cargill and Dreyfus) grain traders that dominate the international grain origination, transportation and logistics industry. The companies are most profitable at times of supply volatility when grain needs to be sourced from one growing region and shipped to regions where there is a supply deficit.

Last year, Dreyfus originated and shipped more than 80mT of grain and oilseeds from its global infrastructure network.