Veteran grain industry exec: ‘I’ve never seen this before’

May 30, 2022 at 09:06 PM CST
In his 29 years in the grain industry, Kurt Haarmann, senior vice president of grain, for Portland, Oregon, US-based Columbia Grain, said he’d never used the phrase, “I’ve never seen this before,” until this spring, when war broke out between Russia and Ukraine, severely limiting grain shipments from the Black Sea region. Besides the war between two major grain exporters, the grain industry is dealing with ongoing supply chain issues stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and drought-related crop shortfalls in the Americas and other important grain producing countries. This chaotic mix of circumstances has resulted in record-high grain prices and reduced global carryover stocks, particularly for wheat, to levels not seen for several decades.

May 30, 2022 at 09:06 PM CST

In his 29 years in the grain industry, Kurt Haarmann, senior vice president of grain, for Portland, Oregon, US-based Columbia Grain, said he’d never used the phrase, “I’ve never seen this before,” until this spring, when war broke out between Russia and Ukraine, severely limiting grain shipments from the Black Sea region. Besides the war between two major grain exporters, the grain industry is dealing with ongoing supply chain issues stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and drought-related crop shortfalls in the Americas and other important grain producing countries. This chaotic mix of circumstances has resulted in record-high grain prices and reduced global carryover stocks, particularly for wheat, to levels not seen for several decades.