World Grain - June 2022 - 78

FEATURE: GEAPS MEMBERS FLOCK TO 2022 EXCHANGE
Left: A
presentation
on grain
entrapment
rescue caught
the attention of
many GEAPS
Exchange
attendees.
Right: Mike
Spillum, sales
and marketing
manager for
Hi Roller AGI,
welcomes
a GEAPS
member to the
AGI booth.
tain but said there were Behlen bins not far from the
Neuero ship loader that was hit.
" It's been two to three years since our last shipment
to Russia, " he said. " Our last shipment to Ukraine was
toward the beginning of COVID. When logistics were
falling apart, we had bins strung out from Nebraska to
Odessa, Ukraine. They ended up all getting there. My
guess is they got assembled last year, but I've not heard
for certain. "
A dealer in Ukraine that Behlen has partnered with
for 15 years is trying to keep its people busy, looking
for work in Africa and the Middle East.
" They're trying to figure out how to keep the team
together, the engineering staff and maybe the service
staff as well, " Nelson said.
Several major projects in the region are on hold, said
Travys Woodside, vice president of international sales
at Chief. Chief has sales representatives in Ukraine
and Russia.
" Overall, it is just completely shut down, " he said.
" I know there is still a want and a willingness to do
business, but when you look at the financial implications,
the sanctions and everything else, it's almost
impossible. "
Chief used to do more business in the region - about
30% of its sales - but in the last few years the pace has
slowed as European manufacturers have grown.
Demand overall is strong as some of the COVID issues
start resolving but supply chain problems remain,
with increased lead times for products that never had
an issue in the past.
" Decisions are being made that were being held
before; business volumes are certainly indicative of
that, " Woodside said. " Supply chain is still a challenge.
The challenges never stop, especially the last couple
of years. "
78
Steel prices continue to be a challenge, said Scott
Rysdon, chief executive officer of Sioux Steel. Prices
went up and were starting to come back down, and
then recently had the largest increase in 10 years. Cold
rolled steel increased 19% and galvanized product
went up 9%.
" I think we're going to see a few more increases
there, but I don't believe it is going to be like it was
(at the end of March), " he said. " We'll go back to 2%
to 3% and then top out in a month or two. It will probably
stay like that the rest of the year. There's too much
material already in the pipeline. "
Demand is strong, he said, but lead times continue
to be an issue. Adding SCAFCO to the business, which
was announced in mid-March, will help ensure they
have enough capacity to handle everyone's needs,
Rysdon said.
AGI also is experiencing strong demand and supply
chain issues, said Mike Spillum, sales and marketing
manager for Hi Roller AGI. The company also has a
few projects in the Black Sea region that are in limbo
right now.
" We have a couple of salespeople who live in
Ukraine and are sticking around, " he said. " They are
safe so far. "
The company is so diversified around the world that
the Black Sea area is a very small portion of AGI's
overall business.
" You hate to lose any customer; it's a great market,
but it's still a smaller piece of our whole picture, "
Spillum said. " Right now, we're more worried about
the people than the business. They've got bigger problems
than us not shipping a product over there. "
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June 2022 / World Grain / World-Grain.com
http://www.World-Grain.com
World Grain - June 2022

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