The ten posted EUR3 billion revenue together last year, 3.5 times the 2009 level. The revenue accounts for more than 50% of the value of the grain, sunflower, soy and rapeseed production.
Grain traders were among the few companies that grew during the crisis, at a time when other industries were discussing layoffs or two-digit yearly declines.
They are also some of the largest international grain traders, as well, and they are said to dictate almost everything in the world’s agriculture and change trends and prices with their decisions from Australia to the US, be it about grain, coffee, sugar or palm oil.
They arrived in Romania more than 15 years ago and bought cheap storage facilities sold by the government, gradually developing logistics networks along the Danube and in the Constanta Harbor. This turned out to be a winning strategy as Romania joined the international grain trade once it joined the EU and now traders have turned Constanta Harbor into a real checkpoint for ‘feeding’ export destinations in Northern Africa, Middle East or Southeast Asia.
Romania has therefore become sort of an El Dorado for traders, with its surplus of 8 million tons of grain or 5% of the entire grain trade, ranking 8th in the world by barley and corn exports and 11th by wheat exports.
The largest trader on the local market is Alfred Toepfer, held by US’ ADM. Its revenue in Romania stood at EUR643 million, double as much as five years ago and 51% higher than in 2012.
Alfred Toepfer has been vying with its fellow US company Cargill for the top spot in Romania and beat it last year after Cargil’s revenue increased only by 18%, one third of the growth rate of Alfred Toepfer. The current leader posted EUR4.5 million net profit in 2013 or a 0.7% margin. Toepfer’s 2013 profit was its first in five years, during which it had accumulated EUR16.5 million losses.
Cargill posted EUR7.1 million net loss last year, which boosted its five-year losses by 25%. The company ended three of the five years in the red, while posting net profit margins of less than 2% in 2011 and 2012.
None of the top ten traders posted a net profit margin above 5% in the last five years, but they did increase presence by expanding organizations and by investments in infrastructure. The top ten traders hired 850 people in 2009-2013, doubling their headcount.
Some of them implemented infrastructure investment plans, so Toepfer is now finishing a gigantic expansion plan that will see it operating silos in the main Danube harbors, to be able to get the grain and carry it to Constanta Harbor. The same goes for Nidera, acquired by China’s COFCO this spring, which is building silos in the SE region of Romania.
Grain traders are expecting another bumper crop season, as forecasts point to a harvest of more than 8 million tons of wheat, another 1.8 million tons of barley and millions of tons of corn to be harvested in the fall.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)