MILAN – Libero Commodities Holdings B.V., a Dutch agricultural commodity trading company based in Schiphol, Amsterdam, is setting up a partnership with Minasul, a leading coffee grower cooperative in Brazil.
Based in Varginha, Minas Gerais, Minasul produces around 1.2 million bags of arabica coffee each year.
Minasul will sell its coffee directly to Libero and also receive a share of the profit once those beans are sold internationally, as well as profit from cotton trading.
The deal will ensure a steady supply of coffee beans at a time of rising prices and high volatility. The advantage of the deal “is to buy from somebody that is going to deliver to you even if the market runs up,” said Adrian Moguel y Anza, Libero’s chief executive.
Minasul, which markets beans grown by roughly 5,000 farmers, will take a stake in Libero, executives from both parties, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The deals illustrate trading firms’ willingness to forego a portion of their trading profit to ensure long-term supplies of commodities such as coffee and sugar, markets that can quickly swing between global shortages and gluts. At the same time, Minasul’s farmers will have a dedicated buyer for their beans.
They will also have better access to the international market, said Osvaldo Henrique Paiva Ribeiro, the cooperative’s chairman.
Libero was founded in 2009 and is 50% owned by Brazilian farmers. Louis Dreyfus Commodities BV holds a minority stake, as does Geneva investment firm ACE & Co. SA, among others.
Libero, which initiated activities 2010, has principal offices in Geneva, Switzerland and in Mato Grosso, Brazil, under the above-mentioned Dutch-based holding company.
Libero principal activities are origination, trading, risk management and direct sourcing of agricultural commodities.
Its primary products are cotton-lint, cotton-seed, soya beans and corn.
Its shareholders plant and harvest over 5 million hectares of land across the Brazilian Cerrado region.
Libero farmers and shareholders represent about 75% of the Brazilian cotton production, 20% of soya beans and 15% of corn, amongst other products and by-products.
