What Cefetra does

Cefetra Ltd is a Glasgow-headquartered agricultural commodity trading and supply chain business, operating as the UK and Ireland subsidiary of Dutch Cefetra Group. The company sources, stores, transports and delivers grains (barley, oats, wheat, maize, beans, peas), proteins and oilseeds (soya, oilseeds), cereal byproducts, fibres, oils and next-generation feed ingredients to the animal feed, food and drink, biofuel and biomass industries. Its physical infrastructure comprises 39 storage sites and 20 ports across the UK and Ireland (including deep-water facilities at Immingham and Southampton), supporting weekly dispatches of 85,000-90,000 tonnes and 750-850 daily lorry loads.

Cefetra monetises primarily through transactional commodity trading margins, supplemented by fertiliser sales (including exclusive European distribution rights for Anglo American's POLY4), specialist seed contracting via the Premium Crops division, grain marketing services, storage fees and the recently-launched Cefetra Ecosystem Services carbon programme with Soil Capital. The company sells to industrial customers through a web portal and to thousands of farmers through regional farm grain buyers and a dedicated Farmers Portal mobile and web app, with live market data refreshed every 15 minutes. Its go-to-market is sales-led with embedded self-service portals.

Cefetra's competitive position rests on 120+ years of trading heritage, an extensive certification stack (ISCC, RSPO, TASCC, GMP+, FEMAS, EFISC-GTP, ISO 14001/45001, EcoVadis Silver, FEFAC-benchmarked CRS), and a self-developed Certified Responsible Soy standard co-administered with Control Union. The business is private, wholly-owned within Cefetra Group, and operates without disclosed revenue, funding rounds or headcount figures.

Name

Cefetra

Legal name

Cefetra Ltd

Website

https://cefetra.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Cefetra Ltd supplies grains, proteins, oilseeds and byproducts to the UK and Ireland animal feed, food, biofuel and biomass industries through 39 storage sites and 20 ports, complemented by fertiliser, seed and sustainability services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Agricultural Commodity Trading

NAICS

Grain and Field Bean Merchant Wholesalers (424510)

SIC

Wholesale-Farm Product Raw Materials (5150)

akta.pro primary industry

Phytosanitary & Export Certification Support (Documentation, Compliance) (AFAOAMAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Livestock & Pasture Supply Retail (Feed Supplements, Animal Health Inputs) (AFABAJAJ), Byproduct & Co-Product Feed Blending (DDGS, soybean hulls, wheat midds) (AFADAIAG)

Keywords

• Agricultural commodity trading
• Animal feed supply
• Grain storage logistics
• Sustainable fertilizer distribution
• Specialty crop procurement

Headquarters

HQ city

Glasgow

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices11 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Agricultural Commodity Trading: Cefetra imports and supplies a wide range of agricultural raw materials including grains, proteins, oilseeds, and by-products to the animal feed, food, and fuel industries. The company dispatches 85,000-90,000 tonnes weekly and delivers 750-850 lorry loads per day.
2. Fertiliser Sales: Cefetra sells a range of fertilisers including Ammonium Nitrate, Granular Urea, Prilled Urea, Compound Fertilisers, Straight Fertilisers, and Blended Fertilisers to farmers across the UK.
3. Grain Marketing Services: Services for farmers including pool contracts, minimum premium contracts, harvest move contracts, and upside contracts for various grains and oilseeds. Also includes grain hedging strategies.
4. Storage and Logistics: With over 39 storage sites and 20 ports across the UK and Ireland, Cefetra provides grain storage services and logistics management.
5. Seed Sales: Through its Premium Crops division, Cefetra sells planting seed and provides buy-back contracts for specialist crops including HEAR, spring and winter linseed, red wheat, canary seed, millet, and naked oats.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Cefetra supplies agricultural raw materials — grains (barley, oats, wheat, maize, beans, peas), proteins (soya, oilseeds), and byproducts (cereal byproducts, fibre, NGFIs, oils) — to the animal feed, food and drink, biofuel, and biomass industries across Europe. Beyond commodity supply, the company offers grain marketing services, fertiliser sales (including exclusive POLY4 distribution), storage and logistics across 39 sites and 20 ports, and digital portals for farmers and customers.

Product overview

Cefetra is a market leader in delivering agricultural commodities to the animal feed, food and fuel industries, supplying grains, proteins and byproducts through an independent supply chain network of 39 storage sites and 20 ports across the UK and Ireland. The company's core product portfolio consists of raw agricultural materials (barley, oats, wheat, maize, beans, peas, soya, oilseeds, cereal byproducts, fibre products and oils), complemented by the Cefetra Farmers Portal digital platform for customer and farmer access, POLY4 multi-nutrient fertiliser (distributed under exclusive European rights), Cefetra Ecosystem Services (sustainability programme partnered with Soil Capital), and the Premium Crops speciali.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Certified Responsible Soya (CRS): Sustainable soya offering from Cefetra. A zero-deforestation and zero-conversion standard.
• POLY4

Products and services

• Cefetra Grains Supply of raw material grains — barley, oats, wheat, maize, beans, and peas — to the animal feed, food, and fuel industries across Europe.
• Cefetra Proteins Supply of protein commodities including soya, proteins, and oilseeds to animal feed, food and drink, and biofuel industries, including Certified Responsible Soya (CRS) certified supply.
• Cefetra Byproducts Supply of cereal byproducts, fibre, NGFIs (next generation feed ingredients), oils, and other co-products from agricultural processing.
• Cefetra Farmers Portal Digital portal and mobile app providing farmers with 24/7 access to deliveries, contracts, invoices, payments, statements, and market data for self-service account management.
• Cefetra Fertiliser Range of fertilisers — Ammonium Nitrate, Granular Urea (including Limus-protected), Prilled Urea, Compound Fertilisers, Straight Fertilisers, and Blended Fertilisers — available UK-wide year-round for farmers.
• POLY4 Fertiliser Multi-nutrient, low-chloride, organically certified fertiliser derived from polyhalite mineral, supplying potassium, sulphur, magnesium, and calcium. Cefetra holds exclusive European marketing and distribution rights.
• Cefetra Ecosystem Services Sustainability initiative partnered with Soil Capital that enables UK and Ireland farmers to receive financial returns (up to 2 carbon certificates per hectare) for adopting sustainable and regenerative farming practices, with SBTi-backed carbon certification.
• Premium Crops Specialty crop contracting and supply division of Cefetra offering contract farming and buy-back for HEAR (High Erucic Acid Rapeseed), spring and winter linseed, red wheat, canary seed, millet, and naked oats.
• Cefetra Market Data Service Real-time market price data refreshed every 15 minutes, covering indicative delivered prices per tonne to exchange destinations, with price and market report subscriptions via text message and email.

Quantifiable outcome

• Zero-deforestation certified soya with cut-off date of May 2009
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Soil CapitalcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 November 2023Partnership for Cefetra Ecosystem Services - a climate-positive supply chain initiative that rewards growers for sustainable farming practices. Soil Capital provides carbon certification using methodologies backed by Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) guidance. Cefetra guarantees 70% of carbon claims to the farmer.
• Anglo AmericancoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCefetra holds exclusive European marketing and distribution rights for POLY4 fertiliser - a multi-nutrient, low-chloride fertiliser derived from polyhalite mineral. POLY4 is certified for organic farming and distributed in UK, Ireland, and 33 European countries.
• Control UnioncoreTechnology or IntegrationPartnership to develop and administer the Certified Responsible Soy (CRS) standard - a zero-deforestation and zero-conversion standard for sustainable soya.
• NatWestminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSustainable banking partnership for agriculture sector - 'Cultivate a Sustainable Tomorrow' initiative supporting farmers in sustainable practices.
• Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIndustry membership organisation developing sustainability criteria for palm oil production. Cefetra is a member working with producers, trade organisations, customers, and NGOs.
• Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIndustry membership organisation developing sustainability criteria for responsible soy production. Cefetra is a member contributing to sustainable supply chain development.
• UK Round TableminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNewly formed UK Round Table for sustainable agriculture. Cefetra is a member supporting development of sustainability criteria.
• Premium CropscoreOthersCefetra acquired Premium Crops in February 2018 - a Hampshire-based leading provider of premium and specialist crops including HEAR, spring and winter linseed, red wheat, canary seed, millet, and naked oats.
• BEMEFA (Belgian Compound Feed Association)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for certification of responsible soy in Belgium, working together on sustainable soy supply chain initiatives.
• Dutch Foundation for Responsible Soy Chain TransitionminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCefetra became key partner for this initiative supporting transition to responsible soy in Dutch supply chains.
• CampinaminorOthersDutch dairy cooperative. In 2006, Cefetra organised the first shipment of certified responsible soya into Europe together with Campina.
• Crop Marketing Group LtdcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerCefetra serves as marketing partner for Crop Marketing Groups, working as new marketing partner starting July 2024 to support grain marketing services for member farmers.
• Port of Dover Cargo LtdminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCefetra's export grain vessel MV Peak Dublin was the first to call at Dover's new multi-purpose cargo terminal, marking a new partnership for grain exports.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• ForFarmers: European animal feed manufacturer and supplier with strong UK presence. Comparable as a downstream customer of Cefetra's grain and byproducts and competes for some of the same farmer relationships via its feed purchasing and advisory services.

Broad incumbents

• Bunge: Major global oilseed processor and grain merchandiser with European operations in oilseed crushing and origination. Comparable in protein/soya supply to feed industry and sustainability-certified sourcing capabilities.
• COFCO International: Global agricultural commodity trader with significant European grain, oilseed and feed ingredient operations (formerly Nidera). Competes with Cefetra for European animal feed supply and sustainability-certified soya flows.
• Viterra (Glencore Agriculture): Global grain and oilseed merchant with deep European origination and port infrastructure. Directly comparable business model of buying grain from growers and supplying feed/food processors, though operating at a much larger multi-continental scale.
• BayWa: German-headquartered agricultural trading and inputs group with European grain origination, fertiliser distribution, and agri-services. Comparable in multi-product offering (grain, fertiliser, seed, services) and European sustainability focus.
• ADM (Archer Daniels Midland): Global agribusiness giant with significant European grain origination, oilseed processing, and animal nutrition operations. Overlaps with Cefetra across protein/soya sourcing and feed ingredient supply but at vastly greater scale and vertical integration.
• Cargill: Global agricultural commodity trader and processor supplying animal feed, food ingredients and biofuels. Comparable in commodity flows and downstream customer base, with significant European origination footprint through its Frontier Agriculture JV.

Direct peers

• Openfield: UK farmer-owned grain marketing and inputs cooperative, supplying cereals and inputs to UK farmers. Directly comparable as a domestic UK grain origination business with farmer membership and grain storage infrastructure.
• Frontier Agriculture: UK's largest grain origination and crop inputs business, jointly owned by Cargill and Associated British Foods. Directly comparable as a UK-focused grain merchant buying from farmers and supplying feed/food processors, with similar fertiliser and seed product ranges.
• Gleadell Agriculture (ADM Agriculture): UK grain merchant and inputs supplier (now part of ADM Agriculture). Directly comparable in UK farm grain buying, fertiliser distribution, and seed supply to UK farmers and feed/food processors.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cefetra

Compliance13 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cefetra