Rice is a cereal grain, the most widely consumed staple food for over half of the world’s human population, especially in Asia and Africa. It is the agricultural commodity with the third-highest worldwide production (530 million metric tons per year) .

There are many varieties of rice (Jasmine, Basmati, Arborio, Brow, Black…) and culinary preferences tend to vary country to country.
Rice can be cultivated anywhere, although its parent species are native to Asia and certain parts of Africa, centuries of trade and exportation have made it commonplace in many cultures worldwide.

Major importers usually include Nigeria, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brazil and some African and Persian Gulf countries. However, lots of country is actively promoting domestic production.

Barley is a cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally.

With 10,000 years of history, it was one of the oldest cultivated grains, particularly in Russia and Germany.

The world produces over 140 million tons of Barley every year.

Barley is used as animal feed, therefore as a substrate to produce alcoholic beverages, in particular beer. A minor amount of barley is used to produce a diverse range of foodstuffs eaten by humans.

Barley grains are commonly made into malt in a traditional and ancient method of preparation.

An essential product throughout the world, sugar is consumed daily. The average person in the UK consumes around 90g of sugar each day.

There are 2 sugar products, White Sugar, which is what you tend to buy off the shelf and the natural Raw Sugar that comes from cane or beets.

White Sugar is traded in London while Raw Sugar is traded in New York. In 2020* global sugar production reached 188 million MT.

Sugar has more than one use and in 2020 more sugar was used to produce ethanol than was consumed.

Wheat is one of the oldest and most important of the cereal crops.

There are several types of wheat classified by protein level below 10% (feed wheat) and up to 14% used mostly for bread making and pastries.

The worldwide production of wheat stands at 772 million metric tons per year and exports are valued at 38.8 Billion USD per year.

With the world population increasing every year there is an ever growing demand for this staple grain.

Mainly used for animal feed and the production of Ethanol, corn is key to keep economies running.

There are 2 types of Corn, Yellow Corn that fetches higher prices and contains a higher nutritional value and White Corn that has a slightly lower price and lower nutritional value.

In 2020* 1.09 billion MT of corn was produced, with the USA being the largest producer with around 345 million MT. 1 billion MT of corn is consumed with an annual growth rate of around 3%.

The key product to make chocolate cocoa is an essential and much-loved product for old and young alike. In the UK we eat a staggering 30g a day on average, that equates to 2 freddo frogs each day or 1 large Toblerone every 10 days.

There are 2 cocoa markets both in New York and London each contract being of the same quality. The global chocolate market is valued $130.56bn and its expected to grow by 4.61% over the next 5 years. Cocoa grown along the Equator with 60% of global volumes coming from Ghana and the Ivory Coast.

Production of Cocoa in 2020* stands at 4.80 million MT while consumption stands at 4.818 million MT.