Merchandiser, Business

Company Description

Louis Dreyfus Company is a leading merchant and processor of agricultural goods. Our activities span the entire value chain from farm to fork, across a broad range of business lines, we leverage our global reach and extensive asset network to serve our customers and consumers around the world. Structured as a matrix organization of six geographical regions and ten platforms, Louis Dreyfus Company is active in over 100 countries and employs approximately 18,000 people globally.

This position will be responsible for merchandising grains and oilseeds with specific emphasis on origination into a river or export terminal.

• Devise and execute merchandising strategies for commodities
• Aggressively originate commodities by developing a rapport with local farming/commercial community
• Build strategies to maintain long term relationships with customer base
• Organize and execute FOB bushel ownership program and manage dispatching of trucks
• Structure daily bids to be competitive with the local market and distribute to customer base
• Participate in daily conference calls reporting market information to regional traders
• Compose market wires weekly with additional reporting as needed
• Regularly report real-time market information on intercompany chat system
• Lead and participate in customer visits as well as industry social events
• Develop an in-depth knowledge of the customer’s business including the functionally of his/her operations, provide customers with knowledge of the markets.
• Collaboratively support logistics on load schedules.
• Apply, process and settle tickets daily
• Accurately enter contracts, pricing and amendments daily

• Set up new customer accounts
• Support customers with split payments, account issues, and direct deposit set up
• Prepare and maintain various spreadsheets relative to the business.
• Gather news, statistics and information related to individual commodity supply and demand from customers and trade sources, and distribute that information to the remainder of the group to support overall strategic trading/positioning (i.e., contributes to research function)
• Identify, qualify and capture new business
• Understand and input data into CINCH, Compuweigh and probing / grading operations.
• Participate in regular crop tours to assess conditions and potential yields to anticipate markets.
• Become familiar with all physical plant operations including safety, grading, truck dumping, and barge loading procedures.
• Travel and work at other facilities expected periodically on a short‑term basis as needed

Basic qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree preferably in Economics, Agricultural Economics, Finance, Business Administration or other business discipline.
• Valid Driver’s License

Basic qualifications:

• 4 years in one or more of the following:
  Commodity Merchandising/Origination/Trading;
  Commodity Risk Management;
  Logistics/Operations (i.e., coordination of shipments and deliveries)

• Previous experience in grain Merchandising/Origination

• Basic knowledge of futures markets, hedging and arbitrage
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Strong quantitative skills, including basic knowledge of statistics, algebra (e.g., supply and demand relationships, analysis of price relationships)
• Ability to organize multiple responsibilities, prioritize workload and perform multiple tasks simultaneously
• Ability to work with minimal supervision
• Must be able to climb stairs
• Must be able to periodically work outdoors and lift small objects
• Proficiency with spreadsheet and word processing software, (e.g., Excel and MS Word).
• Must be a motivated self‑starter

• Equipment Used
  • Typical office equipment: PC, telephone, scan/fax machine, PDA’s.
  • Where appropriate, personal protective equipment (PPE) will be worn in compliance with Company standards and governmental regulations
• Working Conditions
  • Primarily works in a climate‑controlled office environment with periodic visits to operational areas resulting in…