© REUTERS/AMIT DAVE
Sierentz's grains division, launched in 2017 by a group of former Louis Dreyfus Company traders and based in Geneva, Switzerland, had been targeting exports of Black Sea grains, mainly from Ukraine.
The company did not answer a request to comment.
Four sources within and outside the company, who declined to be named because the matter is sensitive, said many traders had already left, notably in the Geneva and Kyiv offices.
Among reasons for the decision sources cited losses in Ukraine, difficulties because they were too reliant on the country as an origin, tough times in derivatives after some early profits, and also unsuccessful staff changes.
One source said Sierentz would keep farming activities in Brazil and Russia and that some people would stay on the Geneva soybean desk to support farming in Brazil.
Sierentz ended its Singapore-based palm oil trading activities in 2019. It had said it wanted to focus on grains and other oilseed trading.
Comment: It's notable that they're continuing their businesses in Brazil and Russia.
One wonders whether this is just the predictable impact of the West's proxy war in Ukraine, or whether this is a sign of the increasing instability of the global food supply chain?