“Japan has always been a solid customer and regular destination for Canadian feed barley,” said Terry James, Richardson’s vice-president, export marketing. “With tight global feed grain stocks presenting opportunities for growers, we can now make the most of those opportunities by being able to ship our customers’ grain directly to the marketplace in Japan.”
Following the enactment of the Marketing Freedom for Grains Farmers Act on Aug. 1, Richardson has been successful marketing farmers’ wheat and barley directly to end-use customers around the world. In November, Richardson shipped malting barley to South Africa and Colombia out of Vancouver. Richardson shipped 49,000 tonnes of feed barley to Saudi Arabia in early October out of the Port of Churchill. This was the first vessel to load barley in the Port of Churchill since 1992 and the largest barley shipment ever to occur out of Churchill.
As a result of the new open market, Richardson has been able to further develop relationships with its overseas customers and provide access to new end-use markets for Canadian farmers. Richardson can now ship multi-commodity vessels to customers around the world, loading wheat, barley, canola and peas in combination shipments to capture freight advantages.
“Being able to load larger vessels with multiple commodities puts Canadian producers on a more competitive environment into longer-distance markets,” said James. “By capturing freight advantages, we can provide our customers with positive price opportunities to sell their grain to markets around the globe.”
