Miller Magazine Issue 108 / December 2018

47 MILLER / DECEMBER 2018 NEWS COFCO, China’s biggest foodstuff conglomerate, is ready to invest up to USD 30 million in a berth at the Mykolaiv seaport and river logistics. The Ukrainian Mi- nistry of Infrastructure announced this in a statement after a Ukrainian delegation’s visit to China for talks, the CFTS portal reports. Deputy Infrastructure Minister Viktor Dovhan represented the Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure at meetings in Beijing from November 8 to 9. The Chinese state corporation’s investment plans were announced as part of the implementation of Chi- na’s “One Belt, One Road” strategy. The COFCO Agri terminal was opened at the My- kolaiv seaport in 2016. The Chinese corporation in- vested USD 75 million in this project. The terminal’s capacity for transshipment of agricultural products is 2.5 million tons per year. It is capable of storing 136,000 tons of grain. Consultants at CFTS Con- sulting were recruited to help select a land plot for construction of the grain terminal. As the CFTS re- ported earlier, it was announced in in Beijing during the period of November 8-9 that China was plan- ning, among other things, investment projects in- volving creation of multimodal cargo terminals on the border with the European Union on Ukrainian territory for handling Chinese goods on transit to Western Europe. CTS ADM’s net income in 3rd quarter exceeds expectations COFCO to invest USD 30 million in development of Mykolaiv port Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) reported hig- her-than-expected quarterly profit, as the U.S. grain merchant cashed in on strong oilseed crushing margins and export sales of American corn. ADM also said it’s been able to find customers outside of China, especially for corn, after Beijing slapped a 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans earlier this year. Net profit attributable to ADM surged to $536 million, or 94 cents per share, from $192 million, or 34 cents, a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, the company earned 92 cents per share, beating analysts’ average estimate of 83 cents, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. Revenue rose to $15.80 billion from $14.83 billion. Shares rose slightly to $48.16. Export demand for U.S. crops came from countries ot- her than China, ADM said, as an escalating trade war between the U.S. and China curtailed shipments of U.S. farm products, including soybeans and sorghum, to the Asian nation. Sales to other buyers help offset the sting of the trade row, which has reordered the global grains business. China, the world’s top soy importer, has been buying soybeans from Brazil after Beijing imposed a tariff on U.S. imports in July. It may not need to turn back to the United States before South America harvests its next crop, ADM Chief Executive Officer Juan Luciano said. “Certainly we’re not going to have the China demand pool, but the rest of the world will be coming to us, parti- cularly for corn,” Luciano said on a conference call. China is not a frequent importer of U.S. corn, but droughts in Brazil and Argentina have made buyers more reliant on the United States. Archer Daniels Midland Co. reported third-quarter net income of $536 million, exceeding market expectations.