“Reputation and personal contacts are very important here.” Sergey Lebedev, manager of the CHS Ukraine branch in Crimea, says farmers and elevators are eager to do business with a stable, global cooperative like CHS. a region that produces one-fourth of the country’s grain, much of it for export. Alexey Korolkov, general manager, CHS Russia, represents the company in its joint venture with Agromarket, the grain trading arm of Agrico, a diverse Russian company involved in a broad range of agriculture and food businesses. A joint venture, ACG, originates grain in the region, including from Agrico’s farm production, and has access to Russia’s primary Black Sea port at Novorossiysk. “It’s important that we have access to the biggest ports to load the biggest vessels,” Korolkov says. In Ukraine, origination is more complex. “Ukraine is a developing country. In a developing country, you always have opportunity,” says Luigi Pasini, general manager, CHS Ukraine. “As a cooperative, we know how to work with farmers and that’s a point of difference for CHS.” Since the CHS Kiev office opened in early 2008, Pasini and his staff have focused on establishing relationships from the farm to the export terminal. Eight branch offices are located throughout Ukraine for access to producers and Soviet-era inland grain elevators, called silos, that are now owned by private companies or producer consortiums. They’ve also allied with strategic inland shipment points such as the Dnieper River port at Kherson, where grain arrives by barge from the nation’s farthest reaches and moves on by ship to export facilities at the end of this “Mississippi of Ukraine.” Core to CHS ability to move grain to world markets is reliable access to the Black Sea export facilities. At Sevastopol in Crimea, CHS has secured grain shipping rights through the Avlita Stevedoring Company’s massive facility. Further west, on the bustling Odessa harbor, CHS has partnered with Olimpex on a just-completed terminal and high-speed loading operation. Building Reputation As commercial manager for CHS Ukraine, Yuri Sidorenko oversees the eight branches that originate grain. “Our strength is our ability to buy from the inland silos and develop that direct origination relationship,” Sidorenko says. “Reputation and personal contacts are very important here.” Veteran grain trader and marketer Sergey Lebedev, the CHS Crimea branch manager based at Simferopol, adds that the CHS reputation for 24 July/August 2010 CHSINC.COM