Bunge and ADM are on schedule for hurricane recovery
Chicago Even after Hurricane Ida has passed, titans in the agriculture industry like ADM and Bunge Ltd. are still feeling the effects of the storm. Presenting at the Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference on September 8–9, executives from both firms gave succinct updates on operations in the impacted areas.
Bunge’s chief executive officer, Gregory A. Heckman, stated that staff have been diligently cleaning up and making small repairs to restore any damaged facilities to their original state. The St. Louis-based company did not experience any significant structural damage at any of its properties in the region.
“The major obstacle is that we all lack electricity,” he remarked. “At first, it appeared that might take four or five weeks. And as of right now, it appears like it might only be a week or two before we resume. Thus, there are many people putting forth a lot of effort to restore the power down there, and we keep hearing positive news every day.
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According to Mr. Heckman, Bunge will have to verify that everything can safely reactivate online by testing operations after power is restored. After going live, Bunge will be able to resume its river logistics, and the business should bounce back swiftly, returning flows to normal, he said.
According to Mr. Heckman, there was some initial market anxiety because it was unclear how long some of the important grain handlers would be unavailable.
“Some business moved to the Pacific Northwest, some to the Texas Gulf, and we saw some buying out of South America, I believe, as people adjusted their pipelines,” the speaker stated. However, we weren’t in North America at its busiest season. People were therefore able to make some changes.
The trade-off between the programs that were in place and the capacity that was underused in the Gulf will, of course, be the important long-term issue to keep an eye on. In any situation, I have complete faith that the Bunge team will be able to capitalize on any disruptions and utilize our extensive worldwide network to better serve our clients. Therefore, we believe it will benefit us in a neutral to positive way.
Hurricane Ida caused “various levels of damage” to ADM’s facilities, according to chief financial officer of nutrition and head of investor relations Vikram Luthar.