Louis Dreyfus looks to deepen engagement with agritech startups: CEO Mittal

Louis Dreyfus, one of the world’s leading merchants and processors of agricultural goods, would look to deepen its engagement in India in the agritech landscape through its arm Louis Dreyfus Company Ventures (LDC Ventures), Sumeet Mittal, CEO, Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) India said.

Louis Dreyfus Company Ventures (LDC Ventures) was set up in 2020 as part of LDC’s strategic focus on embracing innovation, as a growth lever and enabler for our mission to bring the right product to the right location, at the right time – safely, reliably and responsibly.

In June 2023, LDC Ventures made a strategic investment in Omnivore, an India-based agri-tech venture capital firm dedicated to investing in companies driving positive change in the agricultural and food system across India.

Through the investment, LDC Ventures aims to expand its exposure to the Indian venture capital ecosystem, in line with LDC’s overarching growth strategy – in the country and globally, by gaining access to promising Indian companies in the agritech sector.

On the plans for expanding the commodity trading part of the business in India, Mittal said at present the focus of the company is to work on the verticals that it is already present in India rather than spreading itself too thin.

“We face a lot of issues globally as well as in India and we need to strengthen our systems to make sure that what we do today leaves a lasting impact ten years later for our future generations,” Mittal said.

On the question of how being a leading global commodities merchant trading, LDC bans and trading curbs imposed by countries impact its business, Mittal said globally a lot of factors are impacting agriculture production starting with climate change which is making it more and more difficult to produce enough food to feed a growing population, which results at times in higher food prices and increased food insecurity.

“I think some of the interventions do disrupt the trade flows temporarily. But I think we are living in an environment where the focus internally in terms of self-reliance and self-sufficiency is taking prominence globally. And as responsible global companies, it becomes our role to ensure that our stakeholders, our customers……we are able to fill those gaps through the various geographies that we operate in,” Mittal said.

On food inflation and whether he sees it moderating in the near-term or when, Mittal said he believed that inflation in 2023-24 and 2024-25 won’t be as impactful as it was in the last one year.

He said edible oil prices have come down and have been coming down over the last one, one and a half years.

In cotton, the prices have eased and cotton prices have been largely stable in India and also globally for the last few months to a year.

Specifically, on grains inflation, the CEO agreed that though rice prices have gone up a bit but in wheat and sugar, India has done remarkably well to control the rates.

“I think India has done fairly well to make sure that the sugar prices do not get impacted by global sugar prices in India. And that has in fact…maintained a fine balance over there on sugar. In wheat, I think the government has done a great job in ensuring that sufficient supply is available domestically from our wheat supplies and wheat stocks within India. We are almost towards the end of the year and we’ve not seen wheat imports so far. I think in other commodities like corn we are fairly balanced in terms of our supply chains for now,” Mittal said.

Mittal said as far as monsoon rains are concerned, 2023 was a big challenge.

“Rising temperature and changing weather patterns are taking a toll on agriculture and food production globally. So there will be some challenges but I think through advanced thought out policies and better planning we should be able to navigate most of those challenges in the coming year,” Mittal said.