Olam to trade wheat, barley, canola in Australia

Olam International Limited on Friday said its subsidiary, Queensland Cotton Holdings (QCH) will open a marketing office in Melbourne on July 1, 2008 to trade in wheat, barley and canola in Australia.

CEO of QCH, Richard Haire said: 'On July 1, 2008, we will open a grain marketing office in Melbourne to trade and export wheat, barley and canola.'

'This move is also consistent with Olam's overall strategic thrust into the Australian agricultural sector by entering into new attractive, related product adjacencies, such as the grains, edible nuts and dairy businesses,' he added.

The Australian government has recently passed legislation to liberalise the wheat industry in the country and is preparing a new bulk wheat export marketing system to be in place by July 1, 2008. QCH will be applying for an export accreditation under this new legislation.

QCH's acquisition of Mt Tyson Seeds in 2003 has since taken the company into the Queensland and northern New South Wales pulses and niche grains markets. QCH also has the broadest ginning and warehousing footprint in Australia which will provide infrastructure and logistics support for the grains business.

QCH's new Melbourne office will be headed by Nathan Brown who has extensive grain trading experience from prior positions with Glencore, AWB and Cargill.

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