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About us

background info

About us

Cefetra is a Rotterdam based company and part of the German BayWa Group. We supply agricultural raw materials to the feed, food and fuel industries. We have more than 120 years of experience in agriculture and international trade.

We offer quality, safety and sustainability

We build efficient supply chains based on excellent logistics between suppliers across the globe and our clients within Europe. We value high nutritional quality while food safety is a top priority. We make sure our partners always receive transparent information about the supply chain and benefit from our extensive global network. We choose sustainable solutions and expect the same from our partners across the entire supply chain.

where we come from

Company History

The history of Cefetra goes back to 1899 when the ‘Central Bureau’ was founded in Enschede, with the aim of helping the local united farmers and its so-called purchasing associations to buy fertilizers.
From agricultural importer…
In 1909, the Central Bureau, also popularly known as “CeBe” opened a branch in Rotterdam for the first time. In that year, grain and cattle cakes were traded on the Rotterdam Stock Exchange for the first time. In 1914, with the permission of the Ministry of Agriculture and Industry, maize was bought and imported for the first time for its own account, thus laying the foundation for today’s Cefetra. In 1919 the headquarters of the CB moved from the east of the country to Rotterdam on the Haringvliet. In the 1920s, the production of compound feed, poultry feed to be precise, was started in the Rijnhaven in Rotterdam.… to the largest agricultural distributor in the Netherlands
After the war, the cooperative started processing and large-scale distribution of agricultural products. In 1962 the Central Bureau moved to the Blaak and the name was changed to CEBECO. In 1972 it merged with the TRADE COUNCIL and was given the name CEBECO – HANDELSRAAD. CEBECO – HANDELSRAAD was by far the largest player in the field of agricultural trade, distribution and processing in the Netherlands.From CEBECO to Cefetra
In 1988 CEBECO Feed Trading was established. It specialized in importing raw materials from outside the EU to Dutch cooperative compound feed producers and during the 1990s grew into an international player in the raw materials trade with branches all over Europe. In 2002 Cebeco Feed Trading BV changed its name to Cefetra BV and we moved to ‘de Willemswerf’ in Rotterdam. You will still find us here.
bigger picture

Cefetra — Part of Cefetra Group / BayWa

Since 2013 BayWa is the shareholder of Cefetra. BayWa is the leading trading and services group in Germany. The company is stock listed. Its core segments are Agriculture, Energy and Building materials.

BayWa has more than 17.000 employees in 40 different countries. Cefetra Group (formerly BayWa Agri Supply & Trade) is the Rotterdam based holding company for all international agri trade activities. Leading brands of Cefetra Group are: Cefetra, Tracomex, Premium Crops, Royal Ingredients Group, BioCore and Sedaco. These different brands strongly cooperate to ensure the best possible service to our clients.

geography

Cefetra across the globe

The total Cefetra Group trades about 21 million metric ton of raw materials per year. Mostly delivering commodities to the European market.

Where do we trade?

  • Large volumes of soymeal, sunflower meal and soybean hulls are shipped from South America to Europe.
  • Smaller volumes of soymeal and grains come from North America.
  • Increasingly important is the supply of grains and sunflower meal from the Black Sea region.
  • From Asia we mainly import palm kernel expellers.

 

How much do we trade?

As Cefetra BV, we trade a total volume of products of about 11 million metric tons per year – as part of the BAST group 26 million tons. To compare: this is equivalent to about 450.000 truck loads …! The volume can be divided as one third protein, one third byproduct and one third grains. We are the leading partner for the animal feed industry in Europe.

We don’t work alone!

We work internationally with local suppliers in close, long-term relationships to secure our supply needs.

philosophy

Culture & Values

We are there for our clients and we listen to our clients. We like to call ourselves ‘lean and mean’. Our highly efficient large scale makes it possible to act fast.

Our extensive network and well-oiled supply chains gives us the flexibility we need to deliver ‘just in time’: not too early, not too late. It is our history, the way we approach our partnerships and our clear intention to cooperate with our clients that sets us apart.

Never losing sight of quality, safety and our planet.

opportunities

Looking for a career at Cefetra?

At Cefetra we value competent, ambitious and entrepreneurial people. Our people make all the difference.

We believe that we can only grow our business as fast as we grow our people. Therefore, we constantly focus on your development to further strengthen our team.

Diversity is key

At Cefetra everyone gets the same opportunities. We make sure we put the best person in the right place. We strive for an organisation that is as diverse as possible, while being unique is central and where everyone can maximise his or her career.

“The art of our business is to build efficient supply chains again and again in true partnership with both suppliers and clients”

Ted Swinkels — Managing Director Cefetra BV