Afegra

"Geneva-based agricultural trader Afegra - an exporter of cereals to Iran until last year - is parting company with its managing director and its trading team, sources familiar with the matter said. Gert Bosscher, a former Glencore trader, has resigned as managing director, and a team of at least six traders will be made redundant this summer at Afegra, which was launched in 2010 and specialises in wheat, barley, corn and rice, the sources said. The company, which is privately owned, has issued no public statement. The sources said Afegra had lost a vital source of income after encountering difficulties with obtaining payment from Iran for agricultural deliveries, which were at least partly a result of Western financial sanctions aimed at Iran's nuclear programme... 'They (Afegra) were stuck between a rock and a hard place. They had the choice between making a delivery and not getting paid or making costly demurrage (shipping) payments,' said a senior source at a trading house. The departure of Afegra's trading team also points to the difficulties of small traders in competing with large, integrated rivals such as the so-called ABCD majors (Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus )... 'If you're small, you have to have some sort of foothold to be successful, either in the producing country or the destination market. They had a foothold in the destination market, Iran, but that didn't work out,' the source said... Afegra is still registered in Geneva, and the sources said it would continue to exist, although details of its future strategy were not immediately clear." (Reuters, "Swiss Firm Afegra Cuts Trading After Losing Iran Cereals Business," 6/20/2013) (http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/20/grains-trader-idUSL5N0EV36Z20130620)