Earlier this year Vallis Commodities launched our Marine and Cargo Services in ports across Africa. We are committed to ensuring that our staff have the skills and knowledge to provide the highest quality solutions in this area. Last month, 20 of our operations staff from both the UK office and overseas completed a week-long workshop provided by the prestigious Lloyd’s Maritime Academy. The workshop, presented Read More
We are pleased to announce that Vallis Commodities Limited has recently set up a subsidiary in Rwanda. Vallis Commodities now has 26 subsidiaries in Africa and 3 in the Middle East. Rwanda is now the 5th fastest growing economy in Africa, and we are looking forward to doing business there. We have compiled a research report into the country, which is available here: Rwanda Country Report We have plenty of capacity toRead More
Vallis Commodities has handled 2.8 million tonnes of fuel since our first fuel operation in 2009. Major fuel operations are, or have been, conducted in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, DRC, Liberia and Senegal. In June of 2015, Vallis began its first Middle East fuel CMA, in the United Arab Emirates. Since then, we have handled over one million tonnes of petroleum products here: 670,000 tonnes of fuel oil, 300,000 tonnes of Read More
We are pleased to announce that Vallis Commodities now offers a new risk mitigation service relating to petroleum products for customers in Africa and the Middle East. The new service is a marking system for petroleum products that allows each marked batch of product to be uniquely identified. It is estimated that a 5% loss of revenues in the region is due to fraudulent activity, particularly smuggling and adulteratiRead More
We are glad to announce that the company name of “Drum Commodities Limited” has been changed to “Vallis Commodities Limited”. The change is effective from 1st June 2016, and will soon be reflected in all our branding. We have done this to reinforce the differentiation of Drum Commodities Limited from any other ‘Drum’ company. If you have any questions on this change of name, or any Vallis Commodities servRead More
A client recently asked us to research the production and trade of cashew nuts in the city of Parakou, Benin. A research report compiled by Vallis’s Nick Legg is available at this link: Research Report – Cashew Production in Benin Benin produces 135,000 tonnes of Raw Cashew Nuts (RCN) per year; 95% of these are exported to India for processing. Vallis Commodities has managed cashew nuts in 5 countries acRead More
On 2nd and 3rd of May, I attended the Intra-African Trade Finance and Payment Systems Conference in Abidjan, organized by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank). I was joined at the conference by Denis Chabassier, local Vallis Country Manager, and Marmaduke Hatfield from our UK office. The aim of the conference was to discuss the current limitations and barriers surrounding intra-African trade and to outline ARead More
Vallis Commodities Limited held its AGM on Thursday 28th April to sign off an extremely positive set of results for 2015. Combined with the full renewal of our $40 million Professional Indemnity policy, we are in very good shape for 2016. I am also pleased to announce the appointment to the board as a Director, Dudley Smith. I have known Dudley for over 35 years and so I am delighted to make this announcemenRead More
Following up on our previous post, I am glad to announce that I have now completed the 2016 Marathon des Sables. As well as being the longest MDS ever (161 miles) the MDS organisation claims it was the hardest ever due to the wind, the largest inclusion of sand into the route and of course the heat. Overall I finished 608th out of 1,108 starters – 135 dropped out (12% which is double the average) and 973 finishRead More
Next week I am taking part in the Marathon des Sables for the third time. Ranked by the Discovery Channel as the toughest footrace on earth, the MdS involves running the equivalent of 6 marathons over 5 days through the Moroccan Sahara unsupported and carrying one’s food and equipment. I am running to raise money for Marie Curie, a charity who provide care and support for people living with any terminal illness, and Read More