CHICAGO: US agribusiness Archer Daniels Midland said on Wednesday it has experienced no serious disruptions to grain and agricultural product shipments to the Middle East and North Africa.
"Issues are country specific, but most countries in the Middle East are currently offloading product," ADM Senior Vice President and CFO Ray Young said at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Consumer Conference in New York.
Weeks of turmoil throughout the region, highlighted by protests that toppled regimes in Egypt and Tunisia and the outbreak of civil war in Libya, have kept grain markets on edge about shipments to the food-import-dependant countries.
Demand for grains surged in January, highlighted by Algeria purchasing nearly 2 million tons in a matter of weeks, as governments attempted to soothe popular unrest about soaring food prices.
In Egypt, the world’s top wheat importer, port operations were crippled at the height of the unrest in early February while bank closures prevented importers from the securing letters of credit needed in international grain transactions.
But grain shippers have reported few issues since then.
More recently, numerous cargoes of grain and other food products have been rerouted amid spreading violence in Libya.
Decatur, Illinois-based ADM is among the world’s largest processors and suppliers of grains and agricultural products with operations in more than 60 countries.
