With milling operations generating more data than ever, companies are increasingly focused on how to retain practical know-how and use that data to improve day-to-day decision-making on the plant floor.
As governments in the Middle East expand grain storage to bolster food security and re-route flows towards Africa, Germany-based CESCO EPC GmbH is stepping up its focus on high-capacity, rail-connected grain terminals across the region.
Millers chasing the cheapest cargo risk paying more once extraction, consistency and milling behaviour are factored into the plant’s economics, Fabien Varagnac, founder of Grains & Flours Insights and a respected milling consultant with nearly two decades of hands-on experience, told delegates at IAOM MEA 2025.
International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) researchers model scenarios where simultaneous crop shocks hit major breadbasket regions, showing sharp increases in food insecurity when losses occur in developing regions and meaningful global food price spikes when disruptions originate in North America and Europe.
Flour fortification turns millers into partners in national human capital, cutting the hidden economic costs of malnutrition and creating a triple win: stronger margins, stronger policy alignment, and healthier societies, because millers are not just grinding grain; they are fortifying the future.
In our January cover story, we examine how flour fortification is evolving from a proven tool against hidden hunger into a strategic opportunity for the milling industry.
For decades, the global grain and milling economy has been framed in the language of acres, tonnes, margins and risk. What has often remained invisible is the talent shaping those numbers from the inside: the women who operate mills and laboratories, lead trading desks, run farmer networks, manage HR and training, and represent their companies on the international stage.
International Association of Operative Millers (IAOM) champions inclusion and visibility through its Women in Milling (WiM) initiative, launched at a luncheon at the IAOM Annual Conference & Expo (ACE) in 2019.
Nevin Ulusoy, co-founder of Ulusoy Flour, speaks to Miller Magazine about her determined transition from teaching to milling and the “quiet work” behind one of Türkiye’s leading flour groups.
Building on more than 240 years of milling heritage, Loulis Food Ingredients is transforming a historic Greek family business into a modern European ingredients powerhouse.
Markets are mispricing grain risk. Tight wheat balances, shifting flows and a slower China will shape 2025/26, says Andrey Sizov, Managing Director of SovEcon.
Since the onset of the marketing year in July, the Black Sea wheat market has faced significant challenges - delayed harvests, slow exports, and logistical issues have hindered price reductions compared to previous seasons.
The EU has delayed the Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) to 30 December 2026, opening a window to simplify rules and address implementation challenges.
Volatility is now a defining feature of grain markets, but margin damage is still more often caused by organisational and behavioural failures than by price moves themselves.
AI has dominated industry talk—but milling needs prediction, not hype. Real value comes only when AI is built on automation, a strong OT network, one validated PLC-based data source, and fully automated clean data—so mills can anticipate failures, quality drift, energy use, and bottlenecks before they hit throughput.
The global food system stands at a crossroads. As demand for sustainable protein soars, pulses—beans, chickpeas, lentils, and peas—emerge as modern solutions to humanity’s most pressing nutritional challenges. Yet the most compelling chapter in this transformation is unfolding across a region uniquely positioned to capture its future: the Middle East.
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.
Germany’s milling industry has undergone one of the deepest structural transformations in Europe. From tens of thousands of artisanal mills to a handful of high-capacity industrial sites, the sector now balances modernization, consolidation, and tradition — ensuring supply security while adapting to new sustainability and regulatory challenges.
With one of the world’s strongest grain bases and deep milling traditions, Russia’s flour industry is entering a new phase. From export expansion to quality upgrades and specialized products, the sector is redefining its role at home and abroad.
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.
The 2025/26 wheat season has opened in clear surplus mode, with global production projected at 837.8 MMT (+37 MMT y/y) and ending stocks rising to 274.9 MMT, keeping buyers comfortable and rallies hard to sustain.
The past three years have kept agricultural prices under pressure—large crops, cheap cash markets and comfortable balance sheets left 2025 on a bearish note and squeezed producer margins.
The 2025/26 cereals landscape combines abundant supply with historically high demand, while the market’s most significant risks stem not from fields but from economics and geopolitics. Understanding this balance will be key to navigating the months ahead.
Few countries shape global wheat trade like Egypt. Still the world’s largest wheat importer — buying around 12–13 MMT annually — Egypt remains the ultimate benchmark for MENA grain trade, with every procurement reform in Cairo sending ripples through global markets.
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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14 December 2017 9 min reading
COVER STORY
“Good flour” and “bad flour” concepts are used, but they are not correct. The correct way of using ...