COFCO International plans to double its grain purchases in the Black Sea region as part of a global expansion to help serve markets beyond China in the "next two to three years," the chairman of the Chinese-owned agricultural trading group said on Tuesday in a speech to the FT Commodities Global Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Reuters reports the Black Sea region has become a major supply hub for staple crops, with Russia now the world’s largest wheat exporter and Ukraine one of the biggest corn exporters.
COFCO International’s emergence as an international merchant has challenged the so-called ABCD quartet of farm commodity giants comprising Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge, Louis Dreyfus and Cargill.
