'Giant grain firm buys up all British wheat in ‘unprecedented’ purchase'

from thebureauinvestigates.........

"Britain’s most powerful grain company jointly owned by Cargill and Associated British Foodsbought and took delivery of all the available UK feed wheat last month.

The series of purchases by Frontier Agriculture, described by a number of traders as ‘unprecedented’, will reignite growing concerns among food manufacturers and campaign groups over the potential for giant trading companies and financiers with deep pockets to profit and even distort commodity markets.

Traders told the Bureau of Investigative Journalism that Frontier bought all available May Futures contracts on the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (Liffe) in the period running up to the tender date in the last week of April. Feed wheat sets the benchmark price for wheat used in food.

Aggravating poverty?Huge financial players – whether they are hedge funds, index funds or giant trading houses like Cargill or Glencore – have come under growing scrutiny in recent years as trading volumes have escalated sharply.

This has sparked concern within the G20 that speculation is feeding inflation and aggravating poverty in poor countries"............READ MORE