At an International Grains Council webinar on non-tariff barriers in wheat and maize trade, speakers warned that sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS), maximum residue limits, biotech restrictions, tighter import controls and logistics bottlenecks are placing growing pressure on global grain flows by raising hidden costs, complicating market access, weakening predictability and amplifying food security risks.
The deepening crisis in the Strait of Hormuz has transcended simple increases in freight and insurance costs, fundamentally altering the decision-making patterns of global grain market players.
The FlourWorld Museum has named Abubakar Bakhresa of the Bakhresa Group as the 2026 inductee to its Milling Hall of Fame, recognizing his role in building one of East Africa’s most influential grain-processing businesses and expanding flour production capacity across the region.
The war in the Middle East is not hitting global grain markets through a direct collapse in wheat or corn supply, at least not yet.
For Silvan Trunz, sustainability in flour milling is not a separate agenda, but a smarter way of running the mill with less energy, less waste, and greater transparency. In this interview, the Head of Sustainability at Bühler Milling Solutions explains why the biggest gains will come from better yield control, digital monitoring, and more intelligent process management across the entire milling system.
As power costs rise and margins come under pressure, controlling specific energy consumption has become a strategic issue that directly affects profitability, competitiveness, and long-term plant performance.
For milling companies, sustainability is becoming a central strategic challenge. Lower energy consumption, higher yields, and reduced waste simultaneously decrease operating costs and environmental impact, making sustainability both a compliance requirement and a commercial opportunity.
As energy costs rise and sustainability expectations grow, milling companies are being forced to rethink how efficiency is achieved on the plant floor. From process optimization and digital monitoring to smarter use of raw materials and side streams, the path to greener milling is increasingly becoming a path to stronger competitiveness.
In this exclusive interview with Miller Magazine, Peter Lloyd, Regional Technical Director at U.S. Wheat Associates, reflects on nearly five decades in flour milling, sharing the lessons, values, and practical insights he has gathered across generations of industry change.
While the immediate impact on wheat prices remains relatively limited, the Hormuz crisis is pushing up freight, fuel, insurance and fertilizer costs, adding a new layer of pressure to global trade. Benoît Fayaud of Expana warns that the bigger risk lies not in current wheat flows, but in shrinking farm margins, quality risks and weaker planting incentives that could weigh more heavily on the 2026/27 and especially 2027/28 wheat outlook.
Gafta’s new President Brian Arnold tells Miller Magazine the association will prioritise sustainability and the shift to digital trade documentation, highlighting progress on e-phyto certificates while urging wider legal recognition of electronic bills of lading and stricter contract discipline to reduce delays and disputes.
Rising freight risks, tightening fertilizer markets and uncertainty around Middle East shipping routes could push global grain prices higher, even as many traders still frame the Hormuz crisis as a demand-negative shock, Andrey Sizov, managing director of Black Sea grain consultancy SovEcon, told Miller Magazine.
World wheat flour trade is set to decline for a second straight year in 2025/26, dropping to 16.0 million tonnes ((wheat equivalent), a four-year low, as structurally weaker demand in Iraq and Sudan reflects a broader shift toward domestic milling and wheat grain imports.
Transitioning to whole wheat flour is not simply about raising extraction rates; it requires a fundamental redesign of process discipline and functional performance.
When macroeconomic balances deteriorate, the effects spread across the wheat value chain: input costs rise, financing burdens deepen, public regulation becomes more expensive, and milling margins come under pressure.
I recently had the pleasure of sharing my insights on the global pulses market at a vibrant event in Dubai, hosted by the Ukraine Soybean and Pulses Association.
As India enters the marketing year (MY) 2026/27 (April 2026 to March 2027), the wheat sector stands at a pivotal juncture, balancing robust production prospects with evolving trade policies and market dynamics.
Speaking to Miller Magazine, Ahmed El-Sebaie describes a crowded Egyptian flour market where intense competition is squeezing prices.
Australia’s wheat sector is entering 2026/27 with strong yield momentum, driven by farm consolidation, improved machinery, precision and autonomous spraying, and seed advances that better suit drier conditions.
Corn powers Saudi Arabia’s feed complex — and Argentina is firmly in the driver’s seat. As demand expands and domestic production stays negligible, Argentina dominates the Kingdom’s import flows, leaving Brazil, the U.S., and Ukraine to compete for whatever space is left. This analysis unpacks the outlook for 2025/26 and show why Argentina’s advantage isn’t cyclical but structural — and what room, if any, remains for alternative suppliers.
Based in Gaziantep and run by the third generation of the Tan family, Tanis Milling Technologies has grown into a global player, supplying turnkey flour, semolina, corn, pulses and feed plants to investors in more than 70 countries.
In an exclusive interview with Miller Magazine, Dario Grossmann, Head of Bühler’s Milling Academy in Uzwil, said milling training is moving beyond hands-on mechanics to encompass process understanding, data interpretation, traceability and automation.
Celebrating its 50th anniversary in Zaragoza, Spanish silo specialist SIMEZA has evolved from a local steel pioneer into a global storage partner for millers and grain handlers on five continents.
“The modernization of milling technologies represents a strategic lever for a more efficient and sustainable industry,” Luigi Nalon, CEO of Omas Industries, told Miller Magazine.
In 2022, the grain market watched grain vessels stranded in the Black Sea Ukrainian ports. In early 2026, attention shifted to oil tankers, fertilizer flows, and insurance costs around the Strait of Hormuz. The source of disruption has changed. The lessons, however, are largely the same.
The war in the Middle East and the disruption surrounding the Strait of Hormuz have added a new layer of instability to regional grain and oilseed markets, with the impact extending far beyond the Gulf itself.
Global agricultural markets are currently facing a profound paradox. The 2025/26 season is defined by abundance, with record-breaking volumes across almost every major commodity. However, the physical movement of this supply is under severe pressure.
Black Sea wheat values have entered 2026 on low footing, with ample global supply and fierce exporter competition keeping rallies short lived and the market trapped in a narrow range.
At IDMA Istanbul, the industry witnessed the debut of two initiatives by Parantez Media:
Simultaneously organized with IDMA Istanbul, the fifth edition of TABADER’s now customary Doyens Award Ceremony took place on May 2nd at Wow Hotel.
The global grain processing industry convened in Istanbul. The domestic sector, specializing in flour, grain, feed, pulses production equipment, and milling machinery, crucially exporting 90 percent of its output, gathered with over 10,000 professionals from 120 countries at the 10th IDMA Istanbul.
In an exclusive interview during the IDMA Expo in Istanbul, Moulay Abdelkadir Alalaoui, President of the Moroccan Flour Milling Federation (FNM), provides a comprehensive overview of the state of flour milling in Morocco and its relationship with Turkey.
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07 February 2018 2 min reading
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AGI, a leading manufacturer of seed, fertilizer, grain, feed and food handling, blending, storage ...