World Grain - April 2013 - 18

newsreview
Cargill to begin noise mitigation at Vancouver terminal
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA, CANADA — Having received the
necessary project permits from the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority (VFPA), Cargill said on March 12 that it can now move
forward with its noise mitigation project, ﬁrst announced in
April 2012.
The multi-phase project supports efforts to reduce noise impact
levels caused by Cargill’s grain terminal located on Vancouver’s
North Shore and will consist of the installation of two fan exhaust
silencers, eight dust collector silencers as well as the installation
of sound absorbing barriers along the north side of the facility. The
project also includes the re-distribution of ventilation fans to reduce
noise levels for the nearest residences.
“We are looking forward to moving on to the next phase of this
project,” said Gerry Dickie, general manager at Cargill’s North Van-

couver grain terminal. “We understand the positive impact that these
improvements to our facility will have on reducing the noise levels
experienced by the surrounding community, and we are thankful to
the VFPA for approving our plans.”
“We are very pleased to be supporting Cargill as it invests in its
operations and the community through the noise mitigation project,”
said Duncan Wilson, vice-president of corporate social responsibility at Port Metro Vancouver. “Together with our tenants, terminals
and partners in industry we continually coordinate investments to
preserve the quality of life that communities have grown to expect in
the busy and growing region of the Lower Mainland.”
Cargill anticipates a fall 2013 completion date and has contracted
DJ & T Engineering LTD. and ATCO Emissions to carry out the engineering and construction of its terminal improvements.

ConAgra expanding Ultragrain milling capacity
OMAHA, NEBRASKA, U.S. — ConAgra Mills is expanding its Ultragrain milling capacity to meet increasing demand for the whole
wheat ﬂour product. Ultragrain currently is milled in only three locations — Commerce City, Colorado, U.S., Alton, Illinois, U.S., and
San Juan, Puerto Rico — but ConAgra said it will realign its Alton
mill “to signiﬁcantly boost Ultragrain production” and reconﬁgure
its Decatur, Alabama, U.S., mill to add Ultragrain production. The milling expansions will be completed by July.
“These investments further demonstrate ConAgra
Mills’ commitment as the U.S. leader in whole wheat
milling,” said Bill Stoufer, president of ConAgra Mills.
“This latest reconﬁguration of our milling assets will
give us four major Ultragrain-producing locations in our
network of 23 mills, distributing production to locations
from the Intermountain West to the Caribbean. These additional locations will provide logistic beneﬁts as they
enhance our ability to meet long-term Ultragrain volume
demand and build additional network reliability.”
Mike Veal, vice-president of marketing at ConAgra

Mills, said, “Everyone’s getting the very positive message to make
half your grains whole.”
“That’s made this a very busy time for Ultragrain,” he said. “Our
current demand and near-term future demand are covered with existing capacity. However, we are forecasting signiﬁcant ongoing
growth as we expand the product line and because of Ultragrain
ﬂour’s mainstream appeal. Soon we will have four very
large Ultragrain milling centers, and with 19 additional
milling locations, we have the scale and resources to add
additional capacity when needed.”
ConAgra Mills uses exclusive technology to mill allnatural, specially selected white wheat to a patented ultra-ﬁne granulation, eliminating the visible telltale bran
specks of traditional whole wheat. The result is Ultragrain, a ﬂour the company says “delivers the mild ﬂavor,
color and texture of traditional white ﬂour, while maintaining the nutrition of 100% whole wheat.”
Ultragrain was introduced to the market in the fall
of 2004.

Tunisia to import 1.5 million tonnes of wheat in 2013
TUNIS, TUNISIA — Tunisia will buy 1.5 million tonnes of wheat
from foreign markets in 2013, which is below the average purchased
over the past two years, due to better-than-expected harvest season,
the head of the Tunisia’s Grain Ofﬁce, Abdessata Fehri, was cited
saying by state news agency TAP.
Tunisia started importing wheat in January and currently has

a stock of 190,000 tonnes of durum, 200,000 tonnes of wheat and
130,000 tonnes of barley, covering for two months of local consumption, he added.
The country’s 2012 wheat harvest rose 11% year on year to 1.78
million tonnes, while the barley crop rose 17% year on year to 800,000
tonnes, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.

Russia sees strong export potential
MOSCOW, RUSSIA — Following a late February cabinet meeting,
Russian Agriculture Minister Nikolai Fyodorov told reporters that
Russia’s grain export potential in the 2012-13 agricultural year remains at the level of 14,800,000 tonnes.
“I do confirm our estimate that the grain export potential in
this agricultural year remains at the level of 14,800,000 tonnes,”
he said.
He said it would be premature to give other indexes, “as grain
exports almost stop now.” The main reason for such developments is
that Russian grain with its price cannot compete in the world market.
18

The prices in the world market are much lower, less than $300 per
tonne of wheat.
“So there are no objective reasons to change our forecasts,” Fyodorov said. As to the forecast for the 2013-2014 agricultural year, the minister said: “This will depend on the crops gathered in this calendar year.
“Export forecasts can be made on the basis of the harvest,” he
noted. “We have no intention of restrictions and bans. What is more,
we believe such bans are not welcome and uncivilized,” he said.
Fyodorov stressed that any regulation must be made in the framework of the market economy.
April 2013 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com

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World Grain - April 2013

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