The Cashew tree (Anacardium Occidentale), is a tropical evergreen native to the Americas but is now widely cultivated in Asia and Africa. Cashew in its natural form is a soft, white, meaty kernel contained within the hard shells of kidney shaped, raw cashew seeds. Cashew is consumed all over the world as a snack or used as a food ingredient.

The international trade in cashew is still young compared to other commodities; it started only some 75 years ago and trade in this product is relatively unsophisticated. Each year over 1.5 million metric tons of raw cashew seeds are produced in 19 countries, major producers being India, Brazil, Vietnam, Cote d'Ivoire, Tanzania, Guinea Bissau, Benin, Nigeria, Mozambique and Indonesia.

Cotton (Gossypium Hirsutum) is a natural fiber of great economic importance as a raw material for the textile industry. The word cotton is derived from the Arabic word 'Qutn' which was often used by the Arab traders. Archaeologists have found that in Egypt cotton was used to make textile fabrics at least 7000 years ago. Successful cultivation of cotton requires a long growing season, plenty of water and sunshine, with dry weather for the harvest. In general these conditions are met in warm sub-tropical latitudes in the northern and southern hemisphere.

World Cotton Trade

The world production of cotton is about 25 million tons which is dominated (approx. 78%) by 5 producers USA, China, India, Pakistan and Brazil. World production has been growing steadily at CAGR of 2.5% over the past decade primarily due to improvement in yields. The world consumption is about 26 million tons which is dominated (approx. 70%) by 5 consumers China, India, Pakistan, Turkey and Brazil. World consumption has also been growing at CAGR of 3% over the past decade primarily due to increased consumption in China and India.

The exportable surplus is about 9 million tons with USA, West Africa, Central Asia and India accounting for about 65% of the world's exports. The major importing markets are China, Turkey, Indonesia, Thailand, and Bangladesh accounting for about 60% of the world imports. World trade has been growing at CAGR of 4% boosted primarily by emergence of China as a consistent net importer

Marketing

RI's marketing operations are strategically located in Dubai to serve the growing needs of the key Asian markets. AIL has sales offices in China, Turkey, Netherlands and Vietnam. In other markets, AIL has an established network of experienced agents who have an in-depth understanding of the buyers.

RI has significant market share in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, India and Turkey where it has privileged relationships with key customers and a growing presence in Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

RI's superior network can secure proprietary information, access to which allows the trading team, based in Singapore, to make informed decisions and advise their customers. RI provides integrated risk management and financing solutions to cotton producers, ginners and spinners to help them to manage risks and inventory costs in a volatile environment. Our primary aim is to assists its customers to achieve price protection and secure basic margins.

RI’s origination strengths, combined with specific emphasis on quality and timely delivery, enhanced by strong management processes, enable AIL to provide a superior service and enjoy a preferred status with many spinners.

Wood is an unique raw material that is environmentally friendly and can be harvested and replanted to perpetuity in managed forest areas. The product is largely classified on the basis of the growing regions (tropical and temperate) and attributes (hardwoods and softwoods).

It is traded in a variety of forms including, round logs, sawn lumber, plywood, veneers and fiberboards. The world trade of round logs and sawn timber is in excess of 135 million cubic meters and is valued at over US$ 23 billion.

RI's Wood Products Business

RI's entry into the timber business was in the teak trade flow from Ghana to India in 1994 and has since posted an impressive growth rate over the past 14 years. In this period, we have grown to being one of the largest suppliers of plantation teak round logs , both certified and non certified, in the world. This strong growth is the result of our strength in the three key dimensions of the business – sourcing strengths, spread and depth of product species and marketing presence.

We trade primarily in tropical round logs and tropical sawn lumber. World trade in this category is about 18 million cubic meters with a value of about US$ 4 billion. The rationale for choice of this segment is the opportunity it offers us to leverage our core strengths in origin management and our physical presence in producing countries. The ability to transfer understanding and experience of the timber business across origins, species and markets through intensive training and good management processes has been key to the rapid growth we achieved. The major producing countries for us in this segment are Gabon, Zaire, Congo, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Brazil while smaller producers are Tanzania, Nigeria and Mozambique for processed and finished products.

We place a significant emphasis on quality control and this is reflected in our quality management systems and procedures. Log selection is undertaken on the basis of physical inspection by graders at the site and after all the species are graded, the quality determined and their measurements taken, the logs are then individually marked. The logistics team up-country, which procures logs from the loggers, oversees the handling and movement of the logs to the log park where the quality, the number of pieces and the measurement is rechecked. Our robust risk control systems have given us a strong platform to grow the business without compromising on risk management.

We are involved in the entire value chain from contract logging of teak plantations, through to logistics handling, processing, shipping and redistribution. We are involved in sawn timber business in Ghana we have plans to invest in the downstream processing operations in Congo and Gabon.

In marketing, we offer a basket of origins and species to all our customers in key destination markets like India, Continental Europe and the Far East. We have our own marketing offices in these countries to provide personalized service to customers. These offices help in collecting information on species preferences and capture latest trends enabling us to cater to the changing demands of our customers. We also leverage our strong origin presence and product knowledge to suggest alternate species thereby offering better value to customers.

Our expansion plans include entry into more tropical origins, deepen our product range to customers and focus on developing new markets in North America and Middle East. Our objective is to enhance value through providing superior service to our customers whilst contributing to the economies and people who benefit from managed forest cultivation.

In 2006 we made a promising entry into the flooring business. We currently sell flooring components on a consignment basis to some of the largest names in flooring business in Western Europe. We are building up a configuration of sourcing and processing facilities for flooring components in China and Indonesia, in Asia and in Europe. We expect this business to become a large value generator in the years to come.

In 2007 we have been certified by SGS for FSC – COC certification and we would be looking at enhancing our presence in the certified timber business in the coming years.

RI considers preservation of forests as a part of its social responsibility that goes hand-in-hand with long term business objectives. RI's objective is to deal in wood products that come from sustainable and well managed forests.

Rice is a central part of many cultures and some countries even credit rice cultivation with the development of their civilization. It is the staple food for more than half of the world population. Rice is the world's most consumed cereal after wheat. It provides more than 50 percent of the daily calories ingested by more than half of the world population. It is the most rapidly growing source of food in Africa, and is of significant importance to food security in an increasing number of low-income food-deficit countries.

Each year, close to 600 million tones of paddy [360 million tonnes of milled rice is produced, with over 90% of the production being concentrated in Asia, given the favorable climatic conditions and the relatively lower costs of production. China and India account for almost two thirds of this production with Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Pakistan and Myanmar making up the balance. The producing countries are also large consumers of rice. International Trade in rice is only around 28 million tonnes [less than 8% of global production]. Africa and Asia import over 85% of the internationally traded rice volume.

RI’s Role in the Rice Business

RI is one of the leading global players in the Rice Business. We participate in the entire value chain from sourcing, shipping and logistics management through to marketing and distribution. Our physical presence in the major rice exporting countries and our distribution infrastructure in the major destination markets has provided us with an unparalleled insight into the market and establish a unique and distinctive competitive position within the global rice market.

Majority of the rice trade happens between developing economies. We have, by virtue of our physical presence in all the key exporting countries, have been able to establish strong and sustainable relationships with exporters and have emerged amongst the leading buyers from these countries.

We place significant emphasis on the quality of the rice that we source and export and this is evidenced by the focus we have as a company on quality control systems and procedures. Our trained and tested quality control inspectors closely monitor the quality at various stages of the production and packaging process at our suppliers’ manufacturing facilities prior to export.

Sesame seed is mostly grown in the semi-arid and sub-tropical regions around the world. Widely considered as a very healthy oil seed, it is consumed either as a garnishing in bakery / confectionery items, as a flavoring in the cuisines of the Middle east and Asia or in the form of oil. The oil crushed out of sesame seeds is used principally as a cooking medium, or as salad dressings. The variety of sesame seeds which is principally used for crushing is referred to as mixed sesame seeds, because it is a mixture of various coloured seeds - mostly yellow and brown. Certain other grades of sesame seeds which are whiter in colour are used in confectionery applications. The Middle Eastern countries principally use sesame seeds after hulling and making a paste of the kernels - to give what is called Tahina.

World production of sesame seeds is estimated at 3 million tones, and is steadily growing ,nearly 70% of the world production is consumed in the producing countries, leaving only 30% for global trade flows. India, China, Myanmar in Asia; Sudan, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Tanzania in Africa and Guatemala and Mexico in Central America are the major producing and exporting countries while China, Japan and Turkey are the large importers. The crop in most African countries has been increasing steadily - buoyed by the short production cycle, and the good liquidity in the global market.

The procurement operations start at the first point of collection, where the sesame seeds are delivered by the farmer or small buying agent in lots normally weighing just a few kilograms. With its network of buying units and agents, which number over several hundreds in the large operations, AIL is able to aggregate the supplies into sizable quantities.

RI has significant investments in infrastructure including warehouses and cleaning machines and this ensures RI effectively manages the entire range of operations from collection, storage, quality upgradation, packing, transport and shipping. This has enabled RI to grow volumes rapidly and emerge as one of the largest exporter of sesame seed from Africa in a span of 10 years.