AgriBriefing, the leading agri-food price reporting agency, today announces the acquisition of Tropical Research Services (TRS). TRS provides proprietary field research and market data for clients involved in a range of tropical commodity products including coffee, cocoa, sugar, cane ethanol, tropical oils, grains and oilseeds.
TRS was originally an in-house research unit of a large US asset-management company before being spun out as a standalone entity in 2009. The business was founded by Steve Wateridge & Sean Diffley. Steve had been Head of Coffee and Cocoa Research at ED&F Man – the large global commodity trading house. Sean also had a background with ED&F Man where he had been the Head of Global Trading in their sugar division.
The business now has a network of field agents and specialist analysts in West Africa, South America and Southeast Asia. Large clients involved in the production, trading and procurement of tropical commodities rely on TRS to provide proprietary fundamental analysis for these markets.
Commenting on this acquisition Rory Brown, Co-Founder and CEO of AgriBriefing said “We are delighted to bring new colleagues at TRS into the group. Over the past 10 years we have been steadily building the world’s leading pricing and market data specialist for the global agri-food sector. AgriBriefing already provides extensive coverage for the protein, feedstuffs, grains and oilseeds markets. The addition of TRS’s expertise in the coffee, cocoa, sugar and ethanol markets significantly extends both our breadth of agri-food commodity research and the geographical footprint of the company. We look forward to working with Steve and Sean, alongside the hugely talented TRS team, to build and extend our services for clients across the agri-food supply chain and finance sectors”.
Sean Diffley, co-founder of Tropical Research Services added “This is an exciting step in TRS’ development. TRS is already a leading tropical commodity research and data provider. AgriBriefing’s infrastructure and resources will allow us to accelerate growth and create greater value for our clients. Steve and I are delighted about the benefits for our clients and the TRS team that this combination will bring”.
About AgriBriefing:
AgriBriefing is the world’s most trusted source of agribusiness intelligence and the leading global provider of agricultural commodity pricing benchmarks, analytics, and market data.
The company provides businesses at every stage of the global supply chain with the benchmark prices, market data, and supply and demand forecasts they need to plan, manage risk, and enhance their ROI.
We provide proprietary data and intelligence on the estimated US$5tn global trade in agricultural commodities, food, and biofuel – a dynamic and under-served market segment with great growth potential.
We operate from offices in London, Île-de-France, Toulouse, and Toms River, New Jersey.
About Tropical Research Services (TRS):
Tropical Research Services (“TRS”) collects, collates and analyses, research and data as to a variety of tropical commodity products, including coffee, cocoa, sugar, cane ethanol, tropical oils and tropical grains and oilseeds.
TRS generates a significant information advantage as to the outlook for the forward supply and demand of tropical commodity products; a valuable resource for those deploying portfolio management and hedging and procurement strategies, in the otherwise opaque world of tropical commodity products information.
