Corn

The Financial Times also reports that Cargill’s profits in the July-September quarter quadrupled, and Bunge’s profits in the same quarter more than doubled.

Louis Dreyfus Commodities, one of the world’s biggest food trading houses, enjoyed a surge in profits last year as it stepped in to supply agricultural markets hit by the devastating US drought.

The family-owned, Geneva-based trader said net profit rose 36 per cent to $1bn last year – the company’s profits were the highest on record.

The worst US drought in half a century and the resulting spike in prices of food staples including corn, soyabeans and wheat last summer was a boon for many of the world’s top agricultural commodity traders.

Cargill’s profits in the July-September quarter quadrupled, and Bunge’s profits in the same quarter more than doubled.

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