World Grain - April 2019 - 14

NEWSREVIEW

Zimbabwe region shutters more than 70 mills
HARARE, ZIMBABWE - More than 70 mills in the
Matabeleland region of Zimbabwe have closed due to the availability of cheap imports, the chairman of the Grain Millers'
Association of Zimbabwe said in news reports.
The region is home to more than 90 maize mills, but only 11
are still operating, chairman Tafadzwa Musarara said on March
8, according to News Day.

Musarara cited cheap imports from South Africa and other
countries as a reason for the closures. He did note that the reopening of Blue Ribbon's mill, with a capacity of 10 tpd, has stabilized
the maize meal market and helped with food security in the region.
Blue Ribbon has committed $25 million into the nation,
Musarara said, adding that the company is a key player in food
security in maize meal, flour, rice and other products.

Nisshin to expand milling presence with acquisition of Allied Pinnacle
TOKYO, JAPAN - Nisshin Seifun Group Inc. has reached
agreement to acquire Allied Pinnacle from Pacific Equity
Partners, a move that Nisshin said will make it the largest flour
milling company in Oceania. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, though media reports suggested the
deal was valued at just under A$1 billion ($710.5 million).
Based in Rhodes, Australia, Allied Pinnacle is Australia's
largest end-to-end bakery ingredient supplier with a strong
presence in flour, premixes and prepared bakery products. The
company has annual sales of approximately A$750 million
and distributes its products to supermarkets, industrial bakers and independent bakeries across Australia. Allied Pinnacle
operates seven mills and four mixing sites.
"Nisshin Seifun intends to strengthen its competitive advantage through a combination of the rich market experiences and
know-how of both Nisshin Seifun and Allied Pinnacle, and
further expand our businesses after completion of this transaction," Nisshin Seifun said. "Additionally, Nisshin Seifun's
New Zealand subsidiary Champion will generate synergies
through improved efficiencies in marketing and business operations by leveraging both sales and distribution networks.
"We believe having business operations in Australia, one
of the largest wheat flour producing countries globally, will
enable us to significantly enhance procurement capabilities in
our group, in particular by collecting market insights on wheat
flour-related markets and building broader relationships with
wheat producers and commodity traders."
Nisshin added that the combination of its distribution network with Allied Pinnacles' network will contribute toward
expansion in Asian markets where dietary culture has been
westernized and wheat flour demand has been growing rapidly.
James Ajaka, chief executive officer of Allied Pinnacle, said
Coceral projects larger E.U. grain crop
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - In its first forecast for the 2019
crop, Coceral projects the E.U. total grain crop at 298.5 million tonnes. This is significantly up from last year's crop when
farmers harvested 280.2 million tonnes of grains.
Wheat production is seen at 139.8 million tonnes, up from
127.4 million tonnes in 2018, because of higher plantings and
an expected recovery in yields in Germany, France, the U.K.,
Poland and Scandinavia.
The Spanish crop is seen down for the year due to dry
weather and lower soil moisture levels.
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Nisshin will acquire Allied Pinnacle from Pacific Equity Partners.
Photo courtesy of Allied Pinnacle.

the company is excited to be working with Nisshin.
"Nisshin's global footprint and track record of continually
investing in driving innovation perfectly matches our strategy of delivering our unique technologies and products to
markets around the world," Ajaka said. "The team and I are
also grateful to Pacific Equity Partners for all their support
and encouragement over the past four years as we have heavily invested in bringing the Allied Mills and Pinnacle Bakery
business together and turning the two into a world-class fully
integrated business."
Allied Pinnacle was formed through the combination of
Pinnacle Bakery and Integrated Ingredients, which was acquired from the Kerry Group in May 2015, and Allied Mills,
which was acquired in March 2017 from a joint venture between GrainCorp and Cargill.

The E.U.'s barley production forecast for 2019 stands at
59.4 million tonnes, up from 56.1 million tonnes last year. As
for wheat, larger crops are mainly expected for the northwestern parts of the E.U.
The E.U.'s corn crop is seen at 61 million tonnes, almost
unchanged from the 60.3 million tonnes last year.
The rapeseed production forecast for the E.U. stands at just
18.5 million tonnes, down from the already disappointing
19.7-milllion-tonne crop in 2018. The decrease is mainly due
to much lower plantings in Germany, Romania, and France.
April 2019 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com

4/2/2019 9:18:25 AM

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World Grain - April 2019

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