AT A GLANCE
Our Group plays a vital role helping people around the world meet every day needs for sustenance. We are a global merchandiser of commodities, a major asset owner and a processor of agricultural goods. Our diversified activities span the value chain where we operate from farm to fork, aiming to get the right food to the right people at the right time. Louis Dreyfus Commodities is owned approximately 85% by the Louis Dreyfus Group with the balance held by employees.
OUR BUSINESS
6 Regions and 13 Platforms
Our business is organized as a matrix. We are present in 6 regions where we operate 13 different business lines. We call these business lines our Platforms.
Our Regions
- Asia
- Europe and Black Sea
- Middle East and Africa
- North America
- North Latin America
- South and West Latin America
Our Platforms
- Coffee
- Cotton
- Dairy
- Fertilizers & Inputs
- Feed
- Finance*
- Freight
- Grains
- Juice
- Metals
- Oilseeds
- Rice
- Sugar
* Our Finance Platform provides foreign exchange risk management support for the commodity platforms.
SCALE AND REACH
500 million
We help feed and clothe up to 500 million people, originating and transporting 77 million tons of commodities around the world annually
22,000
At peak season we employ more than 22,000 people worldwide
90
More than 90 nationalities represent our multicultural diversity
WHAT WE DO
Louis Dreyfus Commodities is a global merchandizer of commodities and processor of agricultural goods, operating a significant network of assets around the world. We’re dedicated to providing sustenance for our planet and today we help feed and clothe up to 500 million people, originating, processing and transporting approximately 77 million tons of commodities around the world annually. We operate from farm to fork through a diverse set of activities that span the value chain.
We have been in this business for more than 160 years and we apply our experience to a broad portfolio of commodities. It includes Oilseeds, Grains, Rice, Feed, Freight, Finance, Juice, Cotton, Coffee, Sugar, Metals, Dairy and Fertilizers & Inputs. We participate in industrial scale sugarcane activities through Biosev, our sister company in Brazil, where we operate 12 sugar mills.
MANAGING RISK TO MATCH SUPPLY WITH DEMAND
Through our business operations and strategically located assets across the globe, we’re strongly placed to match demand for products in one part of the world with supply from another. As world resources become increasingly scarce and population steadily increases to 9 billion people by 2050, we continue to provide a vital service to the planet.
In fulfilling our vital global role, we are faced with various risks including logistical, operational, country, financial and commodity price risk. Our Group’s success can in part be attributed to the sophisticated risk management process which allows us to manage the risks inherent to the complex supply chain operating from field to end consumer. We seek to mitigate risks for the optimal outcome.
On top of our risk management process, we further strengthen our ability to control risks by investing in our own farms, processing plants and logistics infrastructure and by working in close partnership with producers all over the world.
DIVERSIFICATION OF GEOGRAPHY AND ACTIVITIES
We have developed a global footprint and maintain close proximity to sources of high growth supply and demand. We are present in all agricultural production countries, such as Brazil, and in all key consumption countries, notably China and India. We actively use international trading opportunities to avoid bottlenecks in supplies and to address gaps between key origins and destinations. Our geographic diversification is a significant advantage.
In addition, we are a major investor in farming, processing, logistics and transport, especially in the developing world. As a result of our investment strategy, our portfolio of activities is diversified, global and integrated across the value chain, giving us a competitive advantage in several ways:
- Improved origination capability, connecting us to farmers
- Economies of scale through use of resources for the various commodities
- Enhanced information flow and cross-fertilization of know-how, enabling us to have an integrated view of the agricultural world
Diversification helps mitigate our risks. It also helps ensure we maintain our position as a key player in developing, advancing and modernizing the entire food supply chain, to meet the growing challenge of feeding the world.
VISION AND STRATEGY
Over the last decade Louis Dreyfus Commodities has significantly expanded and diversified as a business by broadening our portfolio and making investments in strategically located origination and logistics assets. As a result we now hold several leading positions in major commodities and have delivered substantial year-on-year growth for a number of years.
Louis Dreyfus Commodities is at the heart of the agricultural industry, covering the entire value chain from origination to distribution. We help people around the world meet every day needs for sustenance: getting the right food to the right location at the right time.
We follow a strategy of selective value chain integration around core physical marketing activities, choosing for each commodity and in each region how far we want to develop our assets upstream and downstream. Several factors have contributed to our long-term success story and will continue to do so well into the future:
- Our reputation as a reliable and trustworthy business partner built over 160 years
- Strong ethical and business values based on the long history of our Group
- Risk mitigation, especially through diversification and selective investments
- Leveraging our historical merchandising capabilities on a global scale
- Inviting key people from our company to become shareholders thereby aligning their objectives with those of our Group
Louis Dreyfus Commodities is well positioned to take advantage of underlying business trends and opportunities. Our success has shown that the Group’s long-term strategy is effective in both good times and bad and will allow us to be one of the top global agriculture companies.
AROUND THE WORLD
Since our Group's activity began in 1851, we have successfully extended our merchandizing and agricultural processing activities to every continent. We have a presence in more than 100 countries which positions us well to build on the opportunities that exist in developed economies and to identify and capture opportunities in the developing world.
The Europe and Black Sea region is the historic heart of our business and still the largest trading hub for the Group. We have a network of 18 offices in this Region merchandizing all commodities within the Group.
China, Brazil and India, together with a number of African countries, offer significant growth opportunities for our Group. We’re investing in diversified assets, building strategic partnerships and strengthening our local relationships to enable our business to achieve further successes in these countries.
Our presence in North Latin America is mainly focused on Brazil, where we are working hard to maximize on flourishing supply and demand opportunities in the region’s emerging markets.
We have been anchored in South & West Latin America for more than a century and the region is a cornerstone in our Group’s global strategy.
The North America region is dominated by the US, the world's largest export market. We’re present in practically every step of the value chain in this region, from farm to fork.
We have a dynamic operation in the Asia region. It is both a key destination market and a strategic origin point for all of our Group’s major commodity flows.
The Middle East & Africa region is a richly diverse territory that holds many opportunities, created by rising populations pushing food demand above domestic production.