Interview: Cemalettin Kanaş

Speaking exclusively to Feed Planet between London Grain Week and IDMA Istanbul in June, amid ongoing geopolitical tensions, Anis Alam, GAFTA Council Member and Chief Grain Procurement Officer at ARASCO, reveals how the Middle Eastern giant is mitigating rising logistical costs, managing vessel diversions to the West Coast, and why the global feed industry is eyeing Africa as its next strategic breadbasket.

Anis Alam
GAFTA Council Member and
Chief Grain Procurement Officer at ARASCO

The global grain and feed trade is currently navigating one of its most turbulent eras, dictated by severe geopolitical bottlenecks and escalating logistical complexities. From the Black Sea to the critical chokepoints of the Strait of Hormuz aSea, industry leaders are forced to completely rewrite their procurement playbooks. In this exclusive feature, Feed Planet sits down with Anis Alam, a seasoned veteran with over four decades of global trade expertise and a key policymaker within GAFTA. Alam provides an insider’s look into how Saudi Arabia’s feed giant, ARASCO, is executing highly agile logistical maneuvers, such as diverting vessels to West Coast ports like Jeddah and Yabu, despite doubling inland transport costs. Beyond immediate crisis management, this discussion delves into the shifting paradigms of global agriculture, exploring Africa’s imminent rise as the region’s ultimate breadbasket and the pragmatic co-existence of Industry 4.0 with traditional supply chain resilience.

How is ARASCO navigating the ongoing supply chain disruptions in the Black Sea and the Strait of Hormuz, and what alternative procurement strategies are you deploying to secure raw materials?

We are taking all our vessels to the West Coast like Yabu, Jeddah and recently we discharged a vessel in Jizan. We are discharging very well, avoiding the demurrages. However, we have been paying almost double the cost of inland transport of our raw materials. Once Hormuz opens up, we would take our vessels to our facilities in Dammam where we have our own berth, discharging capabilities and a storage facility of around 500K MT.

Following London Grain Week, how do you evaluate the evolution of international GAFTA contract and arbitration rules in maintaining market trust during high geopolitical volatility?

GAFTA is handling a lot of arbitration cases due to the war in our region as well as war between Russia and Ukraine. This is a big challenge for arbitrators, but they are qualified enough to handle those challenges professionally.  Also, GAFTA has got a very robust system of Trade flow and resolution of disputes arising due to several reasons. In the Grain week of London, one can notice the smiling faces of GAFTA personnel and Executives, full of satisfaction showing in their execution of their duties.

How do you assess Africa’s potential to transform into a self-sufficient feed production hub, and will Middle Eastern giants play a direct investment role there?

For ARASCO we have been mentioning always that Africa will be our breadbasket very soon. They need to fine tune their trade behaviors and use more new and modern technologies in farming various crops. There are a lot of potential in the countries which are very close to Saudi Arabia and Arab worlds. The culture is almost similar, and the trade can gel very well together. This is the future of the trade hopefully. And we can see many projects of Arab businessmen starting over there.

Do you view the rapid integration of Industry 4.0 and AI analytics as the primary differentiator for survival in modern feed milling, or does traditional supply chain agility still hold the true edge?

Of course, the new inventions will play a very positive role in Feed milling business like any other industrial sector as it has evolved till now. However, the traditional system will remain side by side until it is fully replaceable by scientific measures comfortably.