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In a move that significantly expands its footprint in the plant-based ingredients market, Bunge has officially closed the acquisition of International Flavors & Fragrances’ (IFF) soy protein concentrate and lecithin business.

In an assessment for Miller Magazine, IGC Executive Director Arnaud Petit clarifies that while tensions around the Strait of Hormuz have heightened concerns over energy, freight and fertilizer markets, the disruption does not mirror the systemic grain supply shock seen in the Black Sea.

Escalating hostilities involving Iran and the de facto shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz are rapidly repricing risk across shipping, insurance and energy, lifting delivered grain costs, tightening fertilizer availability and raising food-security concerns in import-dependent markets across the Gulf and beyond.

The International Grains Council’s February Grain Market Report pegs 2025/26 world total grains production at a record 2,460m tonnes, while flagging a slightly tighter early outlook for 2026/27 wheat amid expectations of a smaller crop and rising consumption.

International Grains Council (IGC) Senior Economist Alexander Karavaytsev told delegates at the TUSAF Congress that world grain output is set to post a third consecutive record, with a 130 million tonne year-on-year increase—the largest in 12 years—pushing the market back into surplus and lifting global stocks to their highest level in six years.

The pendulum of the global agri-commodity market has swung violently. After three years defined by deficits, weather shocks, and price spikes, 2026 has dawned as the year of "Recalibration."

Beijing’s Central Rural Work Conference set 2026 priorities around “high-standard farmland,” better seeds and mechanisation, and stable supplies of grain and edible oils.

The Intercontinental Commodity Exchange (ICX) Summit, the world’s most exclusive gathering of agricultural commodity leaders, announced its 2026 flagship event will take place in Dubai.

Acute food insecurity is likely to deteriorate across 16 countries and territories, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) said, urging urgent humanitarian action in the locations flagged as “hunger hotspots.”

At IAOM MEA 2025 in Jeddah, a high-profile panel of millers and grain traders explored how Saudi Arabia’s new grain architecture is quietly positioning the Kingdom as a potential grain and food security hub for the Red Sea and Gulf region.

Egypt, world’s largest wheat importer, is rolling out an ambitious silo expansion program to shore up food security in an increasingly volatile global market.

Speaking at Grain Academy 2025 in Varna, a key regional forum for the Black Sea and Balkans grain trade, Malak Al Akiely of Golden Wheat for Grain Trading explained how government tenders that move futures, larger strategic reserves, sovereign fund investments and emerging digital grain hubs are turning the region into a price maker in global wheat and coarse grains.