Jul. 29, 2024
We could not find your subscription. Please try again.
If you are looking for more details, kindly visit Yayang.
If you are a current subscriber, log in here to view the full edition.
Your addressSign Up for Access
UK: Swiss speciality chemicals company Clariant said on 28 December that it had agreed to acquire German chemical giant BASF&#;s US attapulgite business for US$60M, including a longterm supply agreement for attapulgite-based products to BASF. Attapulgite is a naturally occurring mineral with colloidal, absorbent and adsorbent properties.
BASF&#;s attapulgite business is one of the largest in North America, with mining operations in Georgia and Florida and processing operations in Quincy, Florida.
The company produces attapulgite-based products for a wide range of applications and sectors, including bleaching earths for edible oils.
Glencore&#;s agriculture division Viterra has reached an agreement to acquire the grain and ingredients business of US oilseed and ingredients firm Gavilon from Marubeni.
The US$1.125bn acquisition is expected to be finalised in the second half of this year, Viterra said on 26 January.
Gavilon sources, stores and distributes grains, oilseeds and feed and food ingredients to food manufacturers, soyabean processors, and livestock and ethanol producers worldwide.
The company has 105 grain storage facilities and a total grain storage capacity of 345.5M bushels, according to Sosland Publishing&#;s Grain & Milling Annual . These assets are located in key growing areas in the USA, with access to major railways, rivers and ports. The company is active in Asia, Europe, Mexico and South America, with an indirect ownership interest in two port terminals in Washington and Oregon.
Marubeni, which acquired Gavilon in , said the transaction would not include eight Gavilon grain elevators in northern USA, with those elevators transferring to Marubeni subsidiary Columbia Grain International, World Grain wrote on 26 January. In addition, part of the equity interest of Kalama Holdco, a joint venture grain export terminal business on the US West Coast held by Gavilon, would be transferred to Columbia Grain.
Formerly known as Glencore Agriculture, Viterra has a network of agricultural storage, processing and transport operations. It has 85 grain storage facilities with a total storage capacity of 120.36M bushels in North America, according to the Grain & Milling Annual .
&#;The addition of Gavilon supports our longterm strategy of significantly increasing our presence in the USA &#; one of the major producing and exporting regions, &#; Viterra said.
An acute shortage of rapeseed supply across Germany has made securing feedstock problematic for oilseed millers and processors, with an estimated 1.4M tonnes of the crop needed to maintain operations, AgriCensus said on 14 January.
The crisis comes against a backdrop of record high rapeseed oil prices, which had promoted oilseed processing amid good crush margins.
&#;German oil mills are in a critical situation because they are not getting the oilseed material needed for processing,&#; said Stephan Arens, from Germany&#;s Union for the Promotion of Oil and Protein Plants.
Last year saw a smaller-than-expected global rapeseed crop, with output falling 7% compared to the five-year average, and a drought in Canada cutting production there, AgriCensus wrote. While the rapeseed crop in Germany was expected to expand by about 80,000ha or 9% compared to last year, factors such as high fertiliser costs and insect problems could affect yields, AgriCensus said.
Germany is Europe&#;s leading rapeseed producer.
Pixabay Photo:
Global agribusiness giant Cargill announced on 6 December that it had committed its complete edible oils portfolio to the World Health Organization&#;s (WHO&#;s) best practice on industrially-produced trans fatty acids (iTFAs).
Cargill said the move would help the company and its customers comply with the WHO&#;s recommended standard of a maximum of 2g iTFA/100g fats and oils by the end of .
The WHO's REPLACE initiative provides a guide for governments and industry to implement best practice on iTFA in the global food supply chain to address related health concerns.
In making the move, Cargill joins many of the world&#;s largest food companies and members of the International Food and Beverage Alliance (IFBA) who have committed to the WHO goal.
Over the last 25 years, Cargill said it had removed an estimated 500,000 tonnes of iTFAs from the global food supply, resulting in approximately 89% of its global edible oils portfolio meeting the WHO's iTFA best practice to date.
To achieve the final 11%, Cargill said it was investing in upgrades at a number of facilities to reduce the amount of iTFAs produced during the oil manufacturing process and developing alternative formulations.
Primarily formed through the partial hydrogenation of vegetable oils (PHO), iTFAs also result from high thermal treatment during the refining process.
Cargill said that while iTFA regulations were in place in some 40 countries, either through PHO bans or limits to maximum amounts of iTFAs in food, they remained a health concern in many locations.
Global agribusiness giant Bunge has agreed to buy a 33% stake in leading Brazilian grain and agricultural product wholesale firm Sinagro Produtos Agropecuarios (Sinagro) for an undisclosed sum.
A subsidiary of Mumbai-based agrochemical firm UPL, Sinagro has a network of more than 30 stores and warehouses, and operates in seven Brazilian states &#; Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Goiás, Bahia, Tocantins, Pará, and Minas Gerais &#; with a significant presence in the country&#;s Cerrado savannah region.
Bunge &#; which sources, processes and supplies oilseed and grain products and ingredients globally &#; expects to use its investment in Sinagro to strengthen its grain strategy in Brazil, according to a 20 January statement by Sinagro.
Last year, Sinagro became one of the first companies to join Bunge&#;s Sustainable Partnership, an initiative to help grain re-sellers set up socio-environmental assessment systems for suppliers at the farm level. The programme allows participants to adopt independent geospatial imaging services or have free access to Bunge&#;s structure.
&#;This transaction will contribute to Bunge&#;s grain origination capabilities and to its access to producers in the region,&#; Bunge agribusiness vice president Rossario de Angelis Junior said.
&#;In addition, Sinagro and Bunge are closely aligned on their global vision of being the preferred partner in sustainable solutions for oilseeds, commodities, and related ingredients, both for farmers and end customers.&#;
Production of certified castor seed doubled last year under the Pragati sustainable castor project founded by German chemical and biotech giant BASF, speciality chemicals company Arkema, oleochemical firm Jayant Agro-Organics and implementation partner Solidaridad.
The results of the project&#;s fifth year published by BASF on 13 January showed that more than 5,800 farmers had been trained, audited and certified &#; a 27% increase compared to the previous year.
A total of 36,000 tonnes of certified castor seed had been cultivated in &#; a 50% rise compared to the previous year. Yield had also improved more than 35% compared to the previous year, with over 13,300ha now being farmed in accordance with the SuCCESS sustainable castor code.
&#;With our joint efforts in this programme, we support the sustainable production of castor beans that ... increases the yields and income of farmers,&#; said Karin Wagner, responsible for castor oil and derivatives procurement at BASF.
Pragati is the Hindi word for progress and the project was launched in May .
The Pragati project&#;s goal is to enable sustainable castor crop production by the use of good agricultural practices to increase yield and farmer income; the efficient use of water resources and maintenance of soil fertility; the adoption of good waste management practices; and better health and safety practices and respect for human rights.
Photo: Adobe Stock In its fifth year, the Pragati sustainable castor project doubled production to 36,000 tonnes in
INDIA: Global agribusiness giant Cargill announced on 30 November that it had acquired an edible oil refinery for US$35M in Nellore district, Andhra state.
Due to be fully operational by May, Cargill said the upgrading of the Krishnapatnam Port refinery would give it the capability to supply refined palm oil, palm olein, hydrogenated vegetable oil and sunflower oil. It would also allow it to produce and package its own edible oil brands for retailers and better serve bakery and foodservice customers in the region, Cargill added.
Consumer goods giant Unilever is planning to cut about 1,500 jobs worldwide as part of a reorganisation following its failed bid for a division of global healthcare company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the BBC reported on 25 January.
The maker of global brands including Hellmann&#;s mayonnaise, Magnum and Wall&#;s ice cream and homecare product Domestos said the move would represent a 5% cut to its workforce.
The company would shift from three to five divisions, comprising Beauty & Wellbeing, Personal Care, Home Care, Nutrition, and Ice Cream.
The announcement followed Unilever&#;s failed bid to buy GSK&#;s healthcare business to increase its personal healthcare and hygiene market, in order to offset slow growth in its foods business.
If you are looking for more details, kindly visit Attapulgite in Cosmetics.
GSK, which owns brands such as Sensodyne toothpaste and Panadol painkiller, said Unilever's offer &#;fundamentally undervalued&#; the division.
Unilever announced on 23 January that it would not raise its bid for the GSK arm.
Unilever uses palm oil in many of its products &#; from food and beauty to its household cleaning range.
According to its website, the company sustainably sourced 99.6% of its core volumes of palm oil and palm kernel oil by the end of .
In , Unilever committed to achieving a zero deforestation supply chain by for the crops with high deforestation risk (palm oil, paper and board, tea, soya and cocoa).
Soyabean oil is also an important ingredient in Unilever&#;s brands, including Hellmann&#;s mayonnaise. On its website, the company said the majority of the soya oil it purchased came from soyabeans grown in the USA, where soil health and water quality were a particular focus for its farmer programmes.
The rate of deforestation in the Amazon has more than doubled in a decade, reaching its highest level in 15 years, Olive Oil Times reported on 4 January.
According to data from Brazil&#;s National Institute for Space Research (INPE), deforestation rates in the Amazon increased by 22% in /. In the first 10 months of , deforestation in the Amazon increased to 13,200km², an area slightly smaller than Montenegro or the US state of Connecticut.
New data from the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Estimates System (SEEG) and the Climate Observatory also showed that Brazil generated gross national emissions of 2.16bn tonnes of CO² equivalent compared to 1.97bn tonnes in .
The destruction of the Amazon rainforest is estimated to have accounted for the 9.5% increase in greenhouse gases recorded in by the Climate Observatory and represented the country&#;s highest level of emissions since , the report said.
&#;Deforestation continues to dominate our emissions, with an upward trend in the very year in which Brazil should start meeting Paris Climate Agreement targets,&#; Tasso Azevedo, a climate expert coordinating the SEEG study, said.
The Paris Climate Agreement stipulates the need to keep the global temperature rise to below 2ºC and was approved in and is supported by 200 countries.
The World Wildlife Fund has estimated that 17% of the Amazon has been destroyed in the past 50&#;years, mostly due to cattle rancher expansion, Olive Oil Times wrote.
Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has said that the deforestation claims have been exaggerated, the report said.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has directed local stock exchanges to suspend trading of seven agricultural commodities for one year in a bid to control rising food prices, World Grain reported on 21 December.
Commodities affected include crude palm oil, soyabean and its derivatives, rice paddy (non-basmati), wheat, chana (chickpeas), mustard seed and its derivatives, and moong (mung beans), according to the SEBI.
Following the measure, which took immediate effect, traders would be allowed to square off their positions, but new trades could not be executed, the SEBI said.
The move followed a steep increase in food prices in recent months, World Grain wrote.
Soya production estimates in Brazil have been reduced by 11.3M tonnes due to droughts predominant in the south of Brazil and southern Mato Grosso do Sul state since November, AgriCensus quoted local consultancy Agrural on 6 January.
Previously estimated at a record 144M tonnes, the crop had now been reduced to 133.4M tonnes, based on an average yield of 54.8 bags/ha, the lowest since the /16 crop, Agrural added.
Alternative feedstocks like used cooking oil bring new challenges to making renewable fuels. We help you solve them with purifi cation solutions that: &#; are tailored to your needs &#; work with practically any feedstock &#; reliably remove a broad range of contaminants &#; give you greater fl exibility in sourcing &#; safeguard your process from bottlenecks &#; reduce your total cost of ownership
INDONESIA: The government is set to temporarily restrict crude palm oil (CPO) exports to combat rising cooking oil prices by forcing producers to prioritise domestic markets, the Jakarta Post wrote on 20 January.
Effective 24 January, CPO exporters needed to show proof of selling CPO domestically each time they applied for export permits, with the restrictions in place for six months, the trade ministry said. All exporters would be subject to the policy, including those that had never supplied the domestic market.
USA: US renderer and renewable diesel producer Darling Ingredients has acquired waste collection and recycling start-up Valley Proteins for about US$1.1bn, Reuters wrote on 28 December. The acquisition would provide Darling with additional feedstock to produce renewable diesel and potentially sustainable aviation fuel.
MALAYSIA: Futures and options exchange Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Berhad (BMD) signed a memorandum of understanding with the Malaysian Palm Oil Certification Council on 14 January to develop sustainability-related initiatives in the palm oil sector.
Malysian Sustainable Palm Oil-certified crude palm oil is currently delivered through the BMD&#;s Crude Palm Oil Futures (FCPO) and East Malaysia Crude Palm Oil Futures (FEPO) contracts. BMD said that following the implementation of the requirement for FCPO physical delivery on 1 April , some 897,075 tonnes had been delivered through the exchange from April to December last year, a 65.8% increase compared to the same period the previous year.
The Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS) has announced the launch of a new corn standard and a new version of its soya standard.
The new RTRS standard for responsible soya production (V.4.0) follows the main definitions of the Accountability Framework Initiative (AFI), particularly those on deforestation and conversion of natural lands and those related to the rights of indigenous peoples, local communities and workers.
It complies with the FEFAC (Federation of European Feed Producers) sourcing guidelines, making it complementary to the recommendations addressed to feed suppliers and chain partners who wish to source their soya in compliance with the European feed industry requirements for responsible soya production.
RTRS certified producers will have a transition year &#; from December &#; to start applying and adapting to the new version of the standard.
The new RTRS standard for responsible corn production adds to the association&#;s certification for other commodities.
&#;Continuous contact with producers confirmed the importance of creating opportunities to extend soyabean certification to other grains, oils and seeds, mainly corn, a crop commonly included in the rotation with soya,&#; RTRS said.
As an add-on, the new corn standard could not be certified independently from the association&#;s soya standard, the RTRS said.
To certify corn, producers would have to comply with 14 additional criteria beyond those required by the RTRS soya standard.
Photo: Adobe Stock
Swiss plant equipment manufacturer Bühler is building Agronutris&#; first commercial-scale black soldier fly (pictured) plant in Rethel, France, due to become operational this year.
Bühler said on 16 December that the plant for the French insect producer would be able to process up to 70,000 tonnes/year of organic residues to produce high quality protein for the aquaculture and pet food sectors.
&#;With the launch of this new site, Agronutris is entering its industrial deployment stage,&#; Agronutris CEO Mehdi Berrada said.
Bühler said it would be responsible for the plant&#;s entire supply chain, including feedstock preparation and a fully-automated larvae growth system featuring climate control, and the delivery of the processing line to transform the grown larvae into protein meal and lipids.
Buhler said the insect protein market for feed was forecast to grow significantly in the next 10 years, with insect feed operators&#; total turnover forecast at around US$2.5bn by the end of the decade.
Japanese trading and investment conglomerate Marubeni Corporation announced on 15 December that it had agreed to invest and acquire shares in digital blockchain start-up Covantis.
Geneva-based Covantis was formed in March to provide a digital trading platform for bulk agri-commodities and became operational early last year. Its founding members are ADM, Bunge, Cargill, Cofco, Louis Dreyfus and Viterra.
&#;International bulk commodities trading, including grain and oilseed, requires complicated business workflows including preparing, exchanging, and confirming many physical documents like contracts or certificates between multiple parties throughout the supply chain from supplier to buyer,&#; Marubeni CEO (Food, Agriculture & Chemicals Group) Akira Terakawa said. &#;The issue at stake is to improve efficiency, accuracy and transparency.&#;
Covantis CEO Petya Sechanova said the company&#;s network had expanded significantly since its launch and it now had 24 clients, over 80 legal entities and hundreds of customers.
For more information, please visit Activated Attapulgite Powder.
Previous: How Does Zinc Oxide for Sunscreen Protection Work?
Next: 4 Tips for Selecting an Affordable Oxide Pigment Powder Price
If you are interested in sending in a Guest Blogger Submission,welcome to write for us!
All Comments ( 0 )