Poortman London

A. Poortman (London) Ltd, a division of Alliance Grain Trade Inc (“AGTI”) is pleased to announce the opening of its Spanish branch on January 3rd, 2011. A. Poortman (London) Ltd, sucursal en España will be known commercially as “Poortman España”. This is an initiative to provide enhanced customer service and improved market information for Spanish users of lentils, chickpeas, edible beans and birdseeds. Alfredo García (formerly of Garimpex Legumbres, S.L.) has been recruited as Director of Spanish operations and will continue working from his Madrid office. Alfredo brings with him 22 years experience of the global pulses and cereals business and looks forward to extending the service he provides to include a greater focus on Canadian lentils and chickpeas originating from AGTI’s modern cleaning facilities operated by its Canadian operating division, Saskcan Pulse Trading. “I am delighted to be joining the Alliance-Saskcan-Poortman group. This move will allow Poortman España to be able to share global information with clients and source from our group´s own dedicated pulse processing facilities in Canada, the U.S., Turkey, Australia and China”, commented Mr. Garcia. Andrew Jacobs, Managing Director of Poortman London adds, “We have worked closely with Alfredo and his father for many years, during which time intimate trust and mutual respect has been established. I am delighted to welcome Alfredo as Director of our Spanish operations. We will be increasing our locally held stocks of pulses to provide Spanish clients with a ‘just in time service’ as well as being able to offer long term delivery contracts”. “Spain is a very important consumption and import market for key products from our group, especially for lentils and chickpeas. We look forward to showing Spanish customers that the Alliance - Saskcan group can be a competitive volume supplier of reliable, top quality food ingredients. We wish Alfredo well in this new venture which has our full support”, said Murad Al-Katib, President and CEO of AGTI.