Based in Waterlooville, U.K., Premium Crops is a leading U.K. specialist crop contracting and supply business whose focus is on sustainable, traceable, and fully risk-managed supply chains for niche oilseeds and grains.

“The acquisition of Premium Crops is part of our specialization strategy in agricultural trade,” said Klaus Josef Lutz, chief executive officer of BayWa Ag. “We will be able to further diversify our portfolio in the specialty segments, and offer both the farmers in the U.K. and our customers in Europe and neighboring markets an even wider range.”

The transaction comes at a time when customers and suppliers are placing greater emphasis on long-term partnerships, Lutz said.

“In light of rising demand from the food and feedstuffs industry for specialties, we regard trading in this area as a promising opportunity,” he added.

Andrew Probert, managing director of Premium Crops, said the transaction makes sense for the company given Cefetra’s “excellent reputation and customer network.”

“Our portfolio already includes a number of exclusive crop products, but this acquisition will create new opportunities for us in specialty crop sector,” he said. “Just like Premium Crops, Cefetra stands for stable and reliable processes across the value chain, as well as value-added alternatives to traditional products in crop cultivation.”

Cefetra Ltd. is one of the leading agricultural traders within the U.K. with a trading volume of over 4 million tonnes of grain and products per year. Since 1999, the company has been part of the Cefetra Group, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of BayWa AG.

In December 2016, Cefetra acquired Thegra Tracomex Group, Oosterhout, the Netherlands. Thegra trades various niche commodities as well as organic commodities such as barley, oats and pulses. In 2015, Cefetra Ltd acquired the British grain trader Wessex Grain.