Excellence in Agriculture & Softs

Winner: Macquarie Bank

The world needs more agricultural products of all types – making the agricultural and softs complex an increasingly important, and active, part of the commodity markets for investors and traders. Increasing demand is coming from a number of key areas: A growing population, changing dietary habits, an increasing need for animal feeds, more volatile weather patterns, and increasing demands for industrial building materials and for heating/cooking. Rising and increasingly volatile prices have put the agricultural complex into the spotlight once again after the ‘agflation’ of the 2007/08 season.

In the category for Excellence in Agricultural & Softs Markets we were looking for a company with a strong presence in the physical and/or financial food and agribusiness sector, offering financial support, solid products and services, and specialised sectoral and regional expertise. The voters and Awards Panel chose Macquarie Bank as this year’s deserved winner.

Macquarie has shown broad talent and sophisticated expertise across the food and agribusiness with a dedicated team of professionals offering a range of flexible and tailored product solutions to the industry in OTC price risk management, structured finance, and trading.

One of the longest standing providers of trading and risk management services to agricultural producers, consumers and market participants, Macquarie has been actively trading in global agricultural commodity markets for more than 20 years. Their agricultural capabilities also include risk management and hedging solutions, structured finance, and inventory finance.

With a team represented across four continents, Macquarie specialises in grains, softs, the soybean complex, rapeseed/canola, palm oil, ethanol, pulp and paper, dairy products, livestock, and meats.

Combining expert knowledge, service, structuring capabilities and long term commitment to support agricultural producers, consumers and intermediaries in major markets globally, Macquarie has rolled all of its agribusiness operations, including its Macquarie Agricultural Funds Management, into a single division. Its Agricultural Commodities and Investor Products Division provides risk management, structured financing and physical commodity solutions across agricultural commodities globally and selected dry and wet freight routes.

Macquarie’s commitment to the agricultural sector is unsurpassed and, as reflected in the strength of its nomination and the votes cast by the industry, Macquarie are deserving winners of the 2010 Excellence in Agricultural & Softs Markets.

The Award for Excellence in Agricultural & Softs Markets 2010 was presented to Graham Trask, Head of Sales, Macquarie Bank by Gyles Brandreth, celebrated British author, broadcaster, actor and former Conservative Member of Parliament.