World Grain - March 2019 - 12

NEWSREVIEW

CBH investing millions in network strategy
WEST PERTH, AUSTRALIA - The CBH Group continues to invest in its network strategy this year with more
than A$150 million budgeted for projects that will add over
800,000 tonnes of new storage and associated inloading and
outloading equipment for the network.
With more than 650,000 tonnes of new storage constructed
from 14 projects last year, planning is well under way to start
construction on nine new projects this year with work anticipated to commence in coming months.
Some of the storage projects include 236,000 tonnes of additional storage at the McLevie receival site, 122,000 tonnes
at Dowerin, 152,000 tonnes at Cranbrook, 96,000 tonnes at
Wickepin and 84,000 tonnes at Lake Grace.
Wally Newman, chairman of the CBH Group, said the work
to be implemented on the network this year continued to build
on the accelerated pace of delivery undertaken in past financial

year. In addition, CBH has scheduled the implementation of a
number of enhancement projects this financial year, resulting
in receival sites being able to receive grain faster.
"Our growers are operating in an increasingly competitive
global environment and with this in mind, we're preparing the
network so it's not just the best in Australia but rivals the best
in the world - and our growers are the sole beneficiaries of
this supply chain," Newman said.
CBH recently completed 80,000 tonnes of new storage at its
Chadwick receival site near Esperance after the completion of
the more than A$16 million network investment.
The upgrade includes four closed circular cells, each with
capacity to hold 20,000 tonnes of grain, which takes total capacity at Chadwick to 655,000 tonnes for the 2019-20 harvest.
This makes it one of the cooperative's largest receival sites,
the company said.

Investment firm to acquire vital wheat gluten facility
GREENWICH, CONNECTICUT, U.S. - Global investment
firm Strategic Value Partners, LLC (SVPGlobal) has reached
an agreement to acquire the food ingredient and ethanol businesses from Plano, Texas, U.S.-based White Energy. The
transaction includes two integrated plants in Russell, Kansas,
U.S., including the nation's largest vital wheat gluten manufacturing facility and one of the nation's most cost-efficient
ethanol production facilities.
"As a long-term investor in White Energy, we are intimately familiar with the Russell facilities, which have a unique
competitive position in the food ingredient and renewable
energy markets," said Victor Khosla, founder and chief investment officer at SVPGlobal. "We believe this business can
be improved even further by focusing on Russell as a standalone operation."
The vital wheat gluten facility in Russell has annual production capacity of 56 million pounds, making it North America's

largest producer of the ingredient, SVPGlobal said. Vital wheat
gluten is a plant-based protein used as an ingredient in a number
of food markets, including baked foods, pet foods, and vegetarian and vegan foods.
The facility also has 750,000 bushels of wheat storage capacity.
SVPGlobal said food ingredients produced at the Russell
plant will continue to be sold under the Heartland brand name.
Meanwhile, the Russell ethanol facility has a production capacity of 55 million gallons per year. According to SVPGlobal,
the plant is uniquely designed to consume the starch byproducts generated at the adjacent gluten facility and is rated as having the lowest carbon footprint of any facility of its kind in the
United States by the California Air Resources Board.
SVPGlobal was established by Victor Khosla in 2001. The
firm has 114 employees, including 44 investment professionals, across its main offices in Greenwich, London and Tokyo.

New policy hurting Turkish millers
ANKARA, TURKEY - A new government policy in
Turkey designed to stabilize domestic flour prices is having
a negative impact on a number of Turkish millers, according
to a Feb. 16 Global Agricultural Information Network report
from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
In September 2018, the Turkish government began blocking exports of flour made from domestically-grown wheat.
As part of the policy, Turkish millers are only able to export
flour made from imported wheat.
"After this amendment, it took almost two months for
millers to adjust to the new system," the USDA said. "This
was particularly difficult for those millers located in the
Southeast of Turkey who generally utilize domestic wheat
for flour exports.
"Flour exporters are compensating for these losses with
sales in the last quarter of 2018. Although wheat flour
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exports have resumed, millers are reported to have cash flow
issues. With the new system, Turkey's wheat import figures
are increasing in line with wheat flour export figures."
The report said Turkey's wheat flour exports during the first
six months of 2018-19 were just below last year's exports during the same period, reaching 1,727,000 tonnes (wheat equivalent) compared with 1,741,000 the previous year.
Iraq continues to be the leading importer at 850,000
tonnes during this time period, followed by Syria (192,000)
and Angola (134,000).
Wheat imports during the first six months of 2018-19
were about 2.5 million tonnes, of which 2.4 million were
milling wheat with the remaining 105,000 durum wheat,
the report said.
The main supplier was Russia at 2.2 million tonnes, followed by Ukraine (124,000) and Kazakhstan (105,000).
March 2019 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com

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