“It was the best year ever for traders. Their exports through the Constanta harbor reached record levels and so did the quantity of grain put in silos,” says Cezar Gheorghe, general manager of Ameropa Grains, a trader that ended last year with EUR52 million in revenue, up 53% on 2009. “The times when traders kept their silo doors open waiting for grain to come to them are gone, they went to the farmers instead.”
On the other hand, four of the top five traders incurred losses in 2010, which reached EUR32 million, according to the Finance Ministry data.
“The explanation is that the Romanian government did not reimburse the VAT for the grain exported,” explains Gheorghe, who had run the sales team of Cargill Romania for nine years before taking the reins of Ameropa.
Dutch trader Nidera posted the highest growth among to top five companies on the grain trading market, and doubled its turnover in one year. While the Rotterdam-based company ended 2009 with EUR47.5 million revenue, last year its revenue reached EUR97.5 million, which made it the market’s number four. Moreover, last year’s growth is the third yearly growth in a row. In 2008, the company’s Romanian turnover reached EUR30.3 million.
Cargill came in second in terms of revenue growth compared with 2009. The trader ended 2010 with EUR419.7 million revenue, up 87% on the previous year. As a result, the Americans at Cargill left rival trader Alfred C. Toepfer behind for the first time in four years.
Alfred C. Toepfer’s Romanian business stood at EUR380.5 million in 2010, having gone up 27% compared with 2009, when revenue amounted to EUR299 million. Although it lost the top spot among traders to Cargill, the battle among leading companies in this business will be fierce, as Toepfer has recently announced a huge investment plan for Romania.
Third leading grain trader in 2010 was Agricover, whose business went up to EUR151.4 million from EUR99 million in 2009.
On the other hand, despite 2010 being the best year ever for grain traders in Romania, Swiss-owned Glencore lost its position among the top five companies by turnover. Glencore’s revenue was EUR39 million last year, down 29% on 2009.
(English version by Loredana Frățilă-Cristescu; Editing by Radu Bostan)