Frontier Fengrain tie up??

[Brisel]

What we don't know is how the big F managed their pool. Did they sell some but used hedging tools to keep a hand in the game & cover an upside in the market? Harvest pools have to sell some in advance or they wouldn't get movement of the physical at short notice on such a large bulk, even in a rising market.

Fengrain have not used future & options in the past, preferring to use the crop information available and experienced instinct to make sales. Which would you think was a better way? Good guesswork or risk diluting the pool price with hedging costs? There's no right answer but it's worth looking deeper than just the final pool price to see who is managing risk the best.

 

[yellow belly]

Coops started because farmers were dissatisfied with the local merchants
When they could not pay you lost everything

But true coops act as agent for the marketing of grain and do not own that grain which is still in the hands of the farmer this fundamentle is missed by all those who never consider the risk

Grain is hard to identify in a heap so putting transfer of ownership does not pass until payment is received does not work in grain selling as it does with manny goods

 

[Honest john]

I was at the AGM last year & it was like being at a Funeral.
The top table were about smoke & mirrors, & little real honesty of why it was going wrong.
A bit about lower tonnages, & high quality harvest with little chance to up lift quality.

Nothing about trading losses or control of costs.

I don’t mean to be harsh but simple fag packet maths would tell you staffing costs were not sustainable to trade 850,000 tons.

My Question is. Where has it all gone wrong in the Grain Trade in the last about three years ?

 

[Farmer-George]

I was at the AGM last year & it was like being at a Funeral.
The top table were about smoke & mirrors, & little real honesty of why it was going wrong.
A bit about lower tonnages, & high quality harvest with little chance to up lift quality.

Nothing about trading losses or control of costs.

I don’t mean to be harsh but simple fag packet maths would tell you staffing costs were not sustainable to trade 850,000 tons.

My Question is. Where has it all gone wrong in the Grain Trade in the last about three years ?

I agree. We’ve seen a lot of consolidation in the East of England. Wellgrain, Dalmark, Wells Agriculture and now Fengrain.

It’s a bit of a worry.

 

[Sonoftheheir]

Are Fengrain contracts for this coming harvest still valid?

 

[Farmer-George]

Are Fengrain contracts for this coming harvest still valid?

I would expect so. They haven’t gone bust or into receivership. The contracts will be transferred to frontier.

 

[Banana Bar]

You could say the same for many of the grain merchants this past year, However Openfield were created by farmers for farmers, so if more people supported Openfield then you may see consistency of a profit/better return. We are always hearing how we should support British agriculture, but I find it ironic that there seems to be little support for a company that supports British agriculture owned by British farmers.

The begging letter last year did it for me. Used to trade around 40% with Openfield, now about 10%. Excellent local trader but finances concern me.

 

[crazy_bull]

My Question is. Where has it all gone wrong in the Grain Trade in the last about three years ?

New Merchants prepared to do it at zero to negative margin to gain fresh volume, existing merchants having to slash margins to maintain volume. Farmers prepared to sell away to gain 50p.

That kind of thing.....

C B

 

[Honest john]

New Merchants prepared to do it at zero to negative margin to gain fresh volume, existing merchants having to slash margins to maintain volume. Farmers prepared to sell away to gain 50p.

That kind of thing.....

C B

That’s just what I thought.

In a word Globalisation.

 

[Honest john]

I may upset a few people now with this post.

If I ring Openfield often my rep answers the phone. If I ring their Norfolk Office often the same guy that deals with Transport, Claims, etc etc picks up the call.

If I ring Fengrain a machine answers, gives 8 different lines for grain buyers.
What’s that all about.
If you go into the sales office I don’t have enough fingers & toes to count all the folk in there. They trade about 800,000 ton so do the maths.

If I ring Gleadell it’s much as I find with Openfield.

If I am wrong please please shot me down.

 

[nick...]

I’ll agree about openfield.they recognise my voice and know who I am straight away.my rep see’s after me very well,as does the transport manager and also all their drivers.cant fault them at all
Nick...

 

[Farmer-George]

I may upset a few people now with this post.

If I ring Openfield often my rep answers the phone. If I ring their Norfolk Office often the same guy that deals with Transport, Claims, etc etc picks up the call.

If I ring Fengrain a machine answers, gives 8 different lines for grain buyers.
What’s that all about.
If you go into the sales office I don’t have enough fingers & toes to count all the folk in there. They trade about 800,000 ton so do the maths.

If I ring Gleadell it’s much as I find with Openfield.

If I am wrong please please shot me down.

It’s the personal touch that makes the difference. Cefetra also have real human beings that answer the phones. I deal with the team at their Norfolk office.

Great bunch there and they all know who I am. This is very much a people business, and the face to face communication is getting less and less!!

The only rep from a grain company I have seen in the last 3 years has been from Cefetra, and that’s a minimum of once a year.

I think it’s a sign that margins are slim, do reps not get company cars now?

 

[Flat 10]

It’s the personal touch that makes the difference. Cefetra also have real human beings that answer the phones. I deal with the team at their Norfolk office.

Great bunch there and they all know who I am. This is very much a people business, and the face to face communication is getting less and less!!

The only rep from a grain company I have seen in the last 3 years has been from Cefetra, and that’s a minimum of once a year.

I think it’s a sign that margins are slim, do reps not get company cars now?

is cefetra who took on No ideara? or am I completely wrong?

 

[Sonoftheheir]

is cefetra who took on No ideara? or am I completely wrong?

COFCO took over Nidera

 

[Honest john]

Joking apart it’s a great shame to be losing these small medium sized trading Co Op businesses.

Maybe farmers just are not tough enough to run a business in the big league ?

 

[Wiltshire Bob]

is cefetra who took on No ideara? or am I completely wrong?

Cofco took over from Nidera and Cefetra bought Wessex grain in the south.

Joking apart it’s a great shame to be losing these small medium sized trading Co Op businesses.

Maybe farmers just are not tough enough to run a business in the big league ?

It is a great shame, however if margins are stretched and there isn't much money in the job ( as new merchants will do little business for minimal/negative margins to get the grain and tempt farmers away from their merchant of choice) Then I wouldn't expect many of the smaller merchants to be around for long, its a bit like the high street shops, use them or lose them to the big boys. Its certainly like that in the south with Cefetra paying up for grain, but their service leaves a lot to be desired

 

[Baling Hay]

Maybe you should try Openfield, They are not a multi national, they are a farmer owned co op, meaning they support British Agriculture and don't take their profits off to a foreign sharholder

That's because they don't have any profits!!!

 

[Reginald]

That’s not good to hear. Maybe it’s an area thing.We’re based in Essex and have started dealing with Cefetra with the local office at Sudbury approx 30min away.The service levels have been very good, with our Farm Trader making a real effort to understand our business and give myself and brother options that are unique to our own circumstances. It also helps that the accountant gave the green light to sell to them.
*Wiltshire Bob* have you tried dealing with a different Farm trader from your local office ? Not sure if you have one in Wiltshire? Did this years ago with another merchant and the service level improved dramatically.

 

[Banana Bar]

That’s not good to hear. Maybe it’s an area thing.We’re based in Essex and have started dealing with Cefetra with the local office at Sudbury approx 30min away.The service levels have been very good, with our Farm Trader making a real effort to understand our business and give myself and brother options that are unique to our own circumstances. It also helps that the accountant gave the green light to sell to them.
*Wiltshire Bob* have you tried dealing with a different Farm trader from your local office ? Not sure if you have one in Wiltshire? Did this years ago with another merchant and the service level improved dramatically.

I think if you read Wiltshire Bobs posts you’ll come to the same conclusion as me. He must work for Openfield.

BB

 

[Brisel]

No problems with Cefetra's service around here. Any past issues were sorted pretty quickly. It was a shame to see another co-op (Wessex Grain) sold though.