On February 21-23, 2012
under the auspices of:
Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation,
Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation,
Federal Tariff Service
The Russian Grain Union together with Sojitz Corp. (Japan)
held
II International Grain Trade Conference “Asia – Russia”
in Shangri-La Hotel Singapore

The Conference was visited by 200 representatives from 21 countries including Singapore, Australia, USA, Canada, Argentina, China, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Turkey, Egypt and Japan.

The Gold Sponsor of the Conference was SKAT, Silver sponsorship – provided by Inflot, Sea Trade Group (Pakistan) and KAZBRAND (Kazakhstan). Schyolkovo Agrochim sponsored grand gala reception in honor of the conference participants in the evening of February 23.

In the Conference frameworks the world’s leading experts from major grain producing countries provided estimates of the current state and trends of the situation at the world grain market, major results of 2011, covered the impact of the situation at financial markets on grain market, problems of risk management in the international grain trade, Russian grain export prospects to the countries of Southeast Asia. Possible scenarios of production, consumption and world grain trade development, considering population growth and changes in eating patterns in the developing countries of Asia were presented.

Presentations of the Conference speakers are available at the Personal web-office.

February 22, 2012

The welcoming speech at the Conference opening was presented by Deputy Head of Agrifood Market Regulation and Infrastructure Development Department of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation Artem Krestianinov, Trade Representative of the Russian Federation in Japan Sergey Egorov and President of the Russian Grain Union Arkady Zlochevskiy.

The first session “International grain trade in 2011/12 – challenges of a new season” was moderated by President of the Russian Grain Union Arkady Zlochevskiy.

Current situation in the Russian grain sector, its development prospects were covered by Deputy Head of Agrifood Market Regulation and Infrastructure Development Department of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation Artem Krestianinov. Session was continued by Russian trade representative in Japan Sergey Egorov, followed by a brief overview of the situation in the grain market of Kazakhstan represented by Chairman of Board of the National Company “Food Contract Corporation” Beibitkhan Kabdrakhmanov.

  

  

After lunch the session “International grain trade in 2011/12 – challenges of a new season” was continued by a new moderator, General Director of Institute for Agricultural Market Studies Dmitry Rylko.

The afternoon session had a more “global” nature. For example, problems of the world grain market were covered as well as prospects for grain demand and supply in Southeast Asia. Huge interest among the participants caused the report made by Director of Research Shanghai, Food & Agribusiness Research and Advisory, Rabobank Nederland Daron Hoffman, who outlined the main trends in world grain market. Chris Rittgers, Regional USDA Agriculture Attaché for Malaysia and Singapore told about main trends in the U.S. wheat market in the current season and the prospects for the next one. President of Agri-Tec International Paul Westdal described the situation with the Canadian grain in the markets of Southeast Asia. Working session and the first day of the business program were completed by the report on prospects of Russian grain in Asia after Manager of Business Development Sector, Foodstuffs Department, Foods Resources Unit, Consumer Lifestyle Business Division, Sojitz Corporation Shinji Nagamoto.

  

  

February 23, 2012

The second session of the Conference was entirely devoted to the prospects and challenges that Russian grain will inevitably face in Southeast Asia. Among the session speakers with extensive and as always interesting presentation performed General Director of Institute for Agricultural Market Studies Dmitry Rylko, as well as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Altai Mills Valery Gachman, who spoke about the prospects for Siberian flour exports to the Asia-Pacific region. At the end of the session, the Commercial Director of SKAT-A Peter Minin told the participants about port infrastructure of the Black and Azov Seas.

  

Really fascinating was the panel discussion after the session “Russian grain in the South-East Asia – prospects and problems”. The moderator, Vice-President of the Russian Grain Union Alexander Korbut, professionally asked questions to the panelists, among them were President of the Russian Grain Union Arkady Zlochevskiy, General Director of Institute for Agricultural Market Studies Dmitry Rylko, Regional USDA Agriculture Attaché for Malaysia and Singapore Chris Rittgers, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Altay Mills Valery Gachman, Director of Amurzerno Lyudmila Kuznetsova.

The final session of the Conference was devoted to the grain business risk management, namely trade, transport, operational and financial risks.

The session was moderated by Global Head, Agri Corporate Business, Corporate Solutions of Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd, Bernard Belk. Among the speakers were Chairman of the Board of Directors of ADVAG Alec Y. Redelman-Fesenko, Chief Risk Officer of CBH Group Rob Maurich, Senior Commodities Trader, Global Markets of ANZ Nick Carracher.

  

  

II International Grain Trade Conference “Asia – Russia” closed in the evening of February 23 with the gala reception with the traditional awarding of the Conference sponsors the certificates of the Russian Grain Union!

Photo report: