10 tips for finding buyers on the European grain, pulses and oilseeds market

3. Use member lists of trade associations

Branch associations in the grains, pulses and oilseed industry fulfil an important function in sector-wide issues such as trade barriers, food safety and policy-making at national and European level. As an exporter, these organisations rarely work in your interests, but their market information and member lists can be very helpful to understand the market and find potential buyers for your product. They are especially helpful for traditional commodities; for special or niche ingredients you will have to depend more on alternative sources such as company databases.

For grains and oilseeds, you can check out national organisations in high-demand countries such as Germany, the Netherlands (trade) or Italy. For Pulses, you can look for buyers with national organisations in the United Kingdom or Spain.

Cereals and seeds

Europe: COCERAL is the Confederation of National Federations representing national and European trade organisations in cereals, rice, animal feed, oilseeds, olive oil, oils and fats and agro-supply. COCERAL lists several national trade organisations, for example in Germany, the Netherlands and Italy.

Germany: The German Grain traders association of the Hamburg exchange (VdG), the official representation of the German external trade in grains, oilseeds, animal feed, fish-meal and pulses with a member database.

The Netherlands: The Royal Dutch Grain and Feed Trade Association (‘Het Comité’) with approximately 150 members in the agri-business, such as feed producers and traders, collectors and traders of grain, pulses and seeds, flour mills, crushers and more.

Italy: The National Cerealists Association (ANACER) in Italy represents the national operators that carry out the commercial activity of import, export and wholesale of cereals, oilseeds and derived products.

Vegetable oil and protein meal

Europe: FEDIOL, the EU vegetable oil and protein meal industry association, represents the interests of the European oilseed crushers, vegetable oil refiners and bottlers. The FEDIOL members are 12 national associations and 5 associated company members that together are responsible for processing approximately 55 million tonnes of commodities a year, both of EU origin and imported from third-country markets.

Germany: OVID (in German), the German Association for the oilseed processing industry is a member of FEDIOL and mainly lists multinational companies active in Germany.

Pulses

United Kingdom: Pulses UK is the trade association representing the processors and users of British-produced pulse crops. However, most of the exporting members also trade internationally in pulses.

Spain: Asociación de Legumbristas de España (ALE, in Spanish), consists of merchants and packers of pulses representing more than 80% of the volume of the legumes marketed in Spain.

Rice

Europe: The Federation of European Rice Millers (FERM) represents 90% of the European rice milling industry with 21 European company members and 3 national rice milling associations of Italy, Spain and Portugal.

4. Attract buyers to your website

Web searches are very popular among buyers, so be sure that your company can be found by using the most common search engines. Normally, this is the first place where buyers will see whether you have a well-established company. If you do not appear in their web searches, they may assume you are a small exporter that is unable to fulfil their demand. Remember that your website is your main online communication channel, which should fully reflect your business and commercial identity.

Things you can do to optimise your website:

1. Provide a complete picture: Make sure your website provides a complete picture of your company, its identity, product information (such as technical data sheets), impressions of your production and processing, certifications, activities in social and sustainable practices. Examples of company websites with a good structure are ONganic, an Indian company with specialty rice and Andes Harvest, a Bolivian-Argentinian agricultural company. Both have a unique identity and a clear presentation of their products and experience.
2. Update your website regularly: A website with up-to-date information ensures a well-working website, but also gives you a higher listing in search engines. Regular news items about your activities or market updates in grains, pulses or oilseeds can add attractive content to your online presentation.
3. Use proper language: Websites should be written in good English, and if possible in the language of your target market or market(s).
4. Use Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): SEO will help to get more traffic to your website. To do this, you can register for Google Webmaster Tools.

5. Register with trade directories

You can use trade databases to find potential buyers, but their directories are also useful to present your own products. Some trade directories charge for membership to publish your information or contact other traders. After you have registered, you can either join as a supplier or directly look for buyers. Be selective in the directories you are using and make sure you leave a professional impression. Posting randomly on many sites may look cheap and even desperate.

You can use a free trial to start with and then see if it is worth paying the annual fee. Here are some interesting online trade organisations:

• Organic Bio: International directory of organic food companies.
• Green trade: A marketplace for suppliers and buyers of organic products.
• Food1: International Business2Business (B2B) portal for food suppliers, including the grains industry.
• Kompass: Global B2B multisector database.
• Global buyers online: Search for the latest trade leads from buyers and importers from all over the world.
• Europages: Directory of European companies. This is a professional portal that encourages business-to-business exchanges.
• Lieberanten.de: A database in German to find importers, distributors and wholesalers in Germany.

6. Use food marketplaces, but be selective

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated e-commerce as well as digital trading platforms. Online marketplaces offer a platform for buyers and sellers, and often facilitate the transaction and logistics.

Be aware that in the trade of grains, pulses and oilseeds, personal contacts are key, and trade platforms can attract lots of unwanted attention. For your potential buyers, online marketplaces take away much of the personal relationships and many aspects of quality control and compliance. Therefore these are not preferred by European buyers and you will find mostly sellers from countries such as India, China and Vietnam instead of buyers.

However, extending services of online platforms in transactions, logistics and trade securities can integrate supply chains. They make it possible for many new companies to join the international trade and explore new buyer segments further down the value chain. For this reason, you can expect these platforms to continue their growth and play a bigger role in the future.

Non-specialised trade platforms that have been around for some time include Tradekey or Alibaba, where you can publish your offer. A relatively new platform is Tridge, which focuses on the global sourcing of food and agricultural products. It also provides market intelligence and data, and facilitates trade transactions.

An interesting new initiative is RangeMe, a global food product discovery platform. This platform allows you to show your branded or added-value product and connect to retailers. RangeMe has expanded into the United Kingdom and the Benelux countries, with leading buyers such as health and wellness retailer Holland & Barrett, which is currently partnering with RangeMe to find the latest products for their customer base.

7. Contact support organisations

Contact your country’s chamber of commerce, governmental trade or export agencies or Business Support Organisations (BSOs), which promote exports from your home country and are in contact with overseas buyers. Commercial attaches working in your country’s embassy in Europe are a point of contact as well. They often have useful information about the market and sometimes economic or commercial attachés are very much involved in helping to guide you into a market – the service level is different for each country.

There are also governmental organisations in Europe that promote imports from developing countries. Check with them to see whether they have specific programmes for your country and sector. For instance:

Centre for the Promotion of Import from developing countries (CBI)

CBI runs export coaching programmes in many developing countries, but they are only open for application during the inscription period and for the selected countries in a programme. In the past, there have been export programmes for chia, rice and natural ingredients. Check the current projects for the latest details.

Swiss Import Promotion Programme (SIPPO)

SIPPO helps Business Support Organisations (BSOs), such as chambers of commerce and export promotion agencies, to increase their export promotion capacity and services to export-ready companies. The supported BSOs that work with natural ingredient exporters can be found in eight countries: Colombia, South Africa, Indonesia, Albania, Macedonia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Serbia and Tunisia. Additionally, SIPPO supports BSOs export promotion services in processed food products from Peru, Colombia, South Africa, Tunisia and Morocco. See also the countries where SIPPO has their own offices with further information and contact details.

Import Promotion Desk (IPD)

IPD brings together the interests of German importers with those of exporters in emerging growth markets. One of the sectors they operate in is natural ingredients, which includes grains and seeds (quinoa, amaranth, rice) and pulses (kidney beans, pinto beans, white beans, peas). They organise participation at trade fairs, workshops and matchmaking events. Check the events calendar to see if there are any interesting activities for your business.

Finnpartnership

The mission of Finnpartnership is to increase commercial cooperation and promote business partnerships between companies in developing countries and in Finland. They offer a free-of-charge matchmaking service for companies in developing countries to help find business partners in Finland.

Enterprise Europe Network

Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) was founded by the European Commission to help companies of all kinds of products and services to connect, innovate and grow internationally. Several non-European countries are connected to the network. You can check if your country has a local EEN contact point.

8. Start your orientation with food retailers

Visit supermarkets, food retailers and webshops to see what kind of products and brands with grains, pulses and oilseeds they sell. Find out which company is behind the brand and contact them to see if they import their ingredients themselves or if they make use of an importer.

This process is time-consuming and sometimes difficult, but it provides you with valuable insight into the value chain and names of importers you had probably never heard of before.