Conference speakers

Sergey Feofilov  – Director General of UkrAgroConsult, Ph.D. in Economics.
Founder of UkrAgroConsult – the first Ukrainian consulting agency specialized in agricultural sector of the Black Sea region (marking its 30-year anniversary in 2024).

Sergey Feofilov has vast expertise in analysis of agricultural market of the Black Sea region and Eastern Europe. He has broad international contacts in trading, banking and investment spheres, is a recognized expert and speaker at the major international agri conferences.

UkrAgroConsult serves global agribusiness operators from 50+ countries worldwide, delivering quality market information and analysis for effective decision making. The company provides analytical reports on grain and oilseed markets, in-depth agri market research, investment consulting, business planning, is an organizer of the major international conferences on grains and oilseeds.

Company’s services are trusted by the leading international agricultural producers, traders, agri holdings and farms, processors, investors, banks etc. UkrAgroConsult cooperates with the major global and intergovernmental organizations in agricultural sector.

UkrAgroConsult annually holds major international agri conferences in the Black Sea region and Europe, in particular such events as BLACK SEA GRAIN, BLACK SEA OIL TRADE, EURO GRAIN HUB Exchange & Forum and other.

Experienced professional with 28 years in the grains and oilseeds industry. Started the career with Continental Grain, worked for Bunge for 11 years in several roles in Switzerland, Italy and Hungary.

Since 2017 is managing the Oilseeds, specialty oils and biodiesel activities for Sovena Group in Lisbon.

Nouran Ezzeldin, Founder and CEO of Granos Oros for Global Agri Business Solutions and Export based in Egypt, brings over many years of extensive experience in grain trading , animal feed and Veg oil industries. Her profound expertise has significantly influenced business development as a consultant specializing in the Middle East and Gulf regions. She is recognized for her strategic insights and leadership in fostering sustainable growth and expanding market presence within the agricultural sector.

Cezar Gheorghe is CEO and founder of AGRIColumn, with over 22 years of experience in the field of grain trade. In his career, he has held positions of CEO, Managing Director, in renowned companies such as Cargill, Ameropa Grains, Chimpex, Bunge and Agricover, where he also held management positions in trading and commercial management departments.

Cezar Gheorghe, has consolidated his knowledge through various trainings and international conferences, obtaining GAFTA certification since 2004, specializing in contractual rules and dispute resolution. It is recognized for its detailed analysis and accurate forecasting in the agricultural sector, contributing significantly to informing and educating farmers and investors regarding grain markets.

Under his leadership, AGRIColumn has become a benchmark in the analysis of the agricultural market in Romania and the region, providing weekly reports and strategic consultancy for the optimization of agricultural activities. Also, Cezar Gheorghe is a supporter of the development of agricultural infrastructure, advocating for the improvement of irrigation and logistics systems to increase the competitiveness of Romanian farmers on the international market.

In the context of the current challenges in agriculture, including the drought and the impact of the war in Ukraine, Cezar Gheorghe continues to be an influential voice, offering solutions and strategies for adapting to the new market realities and for protecting the interests of local farmers and Romanian Agribusiness.

Guruswamy Chandrashekhar (G. Chandrashekhar) is a global agribusiness and commodities market specialist in India. He passionately tracks, analyzes and comments on agriculture, agribusiness and commodity markets (including energy and metals) as well as international trade and developmental issues.

Currently, Chandrashekhar has held and continues to hold several public positions:

• Economic Advisor, IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Mumbai

• International Consultant, International Trade Centre (United Nations), Geneva

• Independent Member, SEBI Commodity Derivatives Advisory Committee

• Member, Expert Committee on Agribusiness and Rural Management, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University

• Visiting faculty in reputed B-Schools / training institutions

• Independent Director on the Board of companies A valued Resource Person for USDA (FAS-USDA, New Delhi) for well over three decades, Chandrashekhar is associated with several international institutions including World Bank, IFPRI, ICAC, Global Pulse Confederation and a few others.

Shamil Khakirov is the Commercial Director of the oil extraction plant at Delta Wilmar Ukraine. He has significant experience in the agro-industrial sector, beginning his career at Cargill in 2005, where he worked until 2015.

Subsequently, Shamil held positions as a trader at Bunge and as the head of the oilseeds procurement department at Wilmar International. He also held leadership positions at GP Global Group, State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine, and Vioil. Since July 2021, he has been leading the commercial direction of the oil extraction plant at Delta Wilmar Ukraine.

Shamil received his higher education at Donetsk National University, majoring in International Economics, and continued his studies in the master’s program at the same university.

Victoria has almost 20 years of experience in the agriculture trade industry, focusing on quality and safety of commodities. As an International Sales and Customer Care Manager with SGS, she is in charge of supporting clients’ requirements when it comes to inspection and testing of international agri shipments.

Oleksii Artiushov is a vegetable oils trader for Kernel, focused on the marketing of CSFO in bulk to India. With seven years of experience in various commercial roles in agricultural trading, Oleksii previously has worked for CHS and Bunge in Ukraine, where he has been responsible for trading grains and oilseeds.

Very experienced professional, working for more than 15 years in the veg oil sector in the Black Sea region, well recognized in the international sunflower oil markets.

He has worked subsequently as the CEO of a Bulgarian grain and oily seeds trading company, followed by Oliva JSC (Bulgaria) where he took the position of the Vegetable Oil and Meal Export Manager.

Starting in 2016 has established the companies AgriVia and AgriVia Oil, becoming to the present day one of the most well recongnized veg oil traders in the Bulgarian and the Balkans Penninsula markets.

Mert has been working as a Commodity Trader for over 2 years at Tiryaki Agro, one of the largest agribusiness and industrial companies in Turkey. After working for 1 year at the Istanbul head office, he was promoted and moved to Iraq, where Tiryaki’s biggest investment is located.

Mert is responsible for the oilseed supply from all over the world, including Black Sea basin, and vegetable oil export of the crushing plant located at Umm Qasr Port in Basra, with a daily capacity of 3,000 mt. In his role, he is in charge of maximizing the crush margin of the facility by overseeing the risk management while using futures and options trading. Through the network of regional traders and country directors, Mert is building the sustainable supply chains for oilseeds working on the new markets’ development for the group.

Head of Procurement, Trading and Execution Department of Power Oil Soft Seeds crushing plant in Rostock / Germany, overseeing an annual physical procurement volume of approximately one million tonnes of rapeseed and a sales volume about 550.000 Mto rapeseed meal. Risk and market analysis of complex international commodity markets and trade flows, specializing in soft seeds from Eastern Europe. More than 15 years of experience in the interplay between production, trading, sales and marketing. Monitoring of the protein market and daily risk assessment of the European edible oil and biofuels markets.

Risk management and hedging of trading activities using foreign exchange and commodity futures.

Manage the trading department with in-depth knowledge of handling, logistics, execution and and ocean freight.

Developed at my career within Getreide AG international raw material sourcing from e.g. Ukraine, Romania, the Baltic States, Australia, South Africa and more recently South America with the support of an international trading network.

Andreas Lovstad Tranoy is the project manager of Seafood and Agriculture at the Norwegian-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce. He has experience both from the Ukrainian and Norwegian markets, having worked and lived in Ukraine until 2022. Andreas still runs his own business in Ukraine today and was hired as a consultant in the Chamber, to advise Norwegian businesses on how to establish themselves in the Ukrainian market. He is now actively working to support Ukrainian suppliers in entering the Norwegian market.

Charles Maury has a dual education, having graduated as an engineer but also from the HEC Paris business school.

80% of businesses are weather sensitive.

Based on this observation and after more than 10 years of experience in an insurance company, Charles Maury decided to provide innovative and tailor-made insurances to respond to this problem. CLImate INSurance (CLI-INS) was born.

Some examples of CLI-INS’ innovative insurances:

– Drought insurance / Excess of moisture (satellite)

– Lack / Excess of rainfall insurance (satellite or weather station)

– Heat wave insurance (satellite or weather station)

– Frost insurance by weather station

But also

– Yield index-based insurance

– Low water insurance (Rhine, Danube, Panama Canal, The Netherlands) or high water insurance (Seine) (governmental data)

– Fire insurance by satellite

– Hurricane insurance by satellite

– Hail insurance by hail sensor

– Flood insurance

All these insurances are carried by top leading (re)insurers and available in many countries.

Paul Caramangiu– Agronomist, Ph.D. in Genetics and Plant Breeding

Initiated his career as sunflower breeder at the ” Research Institute for Cereals and Technical Crops” from Fundulea, Romania, integrating the researchers team who launched the first sunflower hybrids worldwide.

In 1989 founded in Argentina the seed breeding company ” Sursem” ( today LG Argentina), who developed the first high-oleic sunflower hybrids in South America  and introduced innovative solutions for seed production and treatment. For his achievements and contributions to the development of seed industry was designated to  represent  Argentina at I.S.F. organisation.

Also as General Manager of “Ivenwest Consult”- an agribusiness consulting company, established in Romania, implemented the technological integration of relevant grains and seed processing installations in Europe and South America.

Since 2017, as Senior Advisor with Elica Processing is dedicating his experience and expertise to the development and propagation of new technologies and  equipment for the elaboration of improved quality products like hy-pro sunflower meal.

Elica Processing, as part of Elica Group based in Silistra, Bulgaria, manufactures and supplies a wide range of solutions for grains and seeds processing as well as  specialized installations for the food industry.