Changing customer preferences have big impact for world’s largest commodities trader. The world’s biggest agricultural commodities trader is taking steps to “de-commoditise”. That was the term invoked by a Cargill senior executive as he described how shifting food preferences were changing the Minneapolis-based company. The term was jarring because Cargill for a century and a half has been known as a quintessential commodity merchant, handling rivers of grain, oilseeds, sugar and other foodstuffs. But as a growing bloc of consumers demand "natural food" which lacks certain traits such as bioengineered genes, or food grown according to certain social or environmental standards, Cargill has tweaked aspects of its bulk supply chain.
The company created a GMO free corn syrup in response to changes at a confectionery customer, its annual report said. Marcel Smits, Cargill’s chief financial officer, explained in New York last week that to do so Cargill dedicated one plant to make it, representing 10 per cent of its volume in the sweetener. He also cited customer demand for yoghurt that was non-GMO, which reaches into the supply of grain used for cow feed.