company:olam international

Russia Becomes a Grain Superpower as Wheat Exports Explode
▻http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-06/russia-upends-world-wheat-market-with-record-harvest-exports

“Russia will be among the top exporters for a long time, especially given the potential advances in productivity there,” said Tom Basnett, general manager at Market Check, a Sydney-based commodity consultant. “Other producers need to fight harder to maintain their traditional markets.”

The boom in Russia is attracting some of the world’s biggest trading houses, with Olam International Ltd., Cargill Inc. and Glencore Plc investing into everything from silos to export terminals.

Rich soil, government support and proximity to Black Sea ports for shipping means Russian costs can be as little as half those of major competitors supplying key import markets in the Middle East, according to researchers at Kansas State University.

#Blé #Russie

Coffee Colonialism : Olam Plantation Displaces Lao Farmers
►http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15736

This was the second delegation to travel to Vientiane to protest what they claimed was unauthorized expansion of a commercial coffee plantation into their ancestral lands. In February, a larger, 10-man group arrived. After a popular call-in radio show interviewed them, the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic abruptly canceled the radio program without public explanation or legal basis, the Southeast Asian Press Alliance reported.

These delegations, undertaken at great risk and considerable expense, challenged both Lao authorities and the Singapore-based agribusiness giant #Olam International, whose Lao based subsidiary Outspan Bolovens Limited, had taken their lands for a monoculture coffee plantation. Originally granted 150 hectares, #Outspan has already planted almost 1,500 hectares and is planning to cover double that—3,000 hectares—in coffee trees.

#terres #agrobusiness #Laos