Industry Environment

The North American grain export system is part of a large, diverse, and evolving global industry including public, private and cooperatively owned and managed facilities and trading entities. The industry must constantly innovate to seek added efficiencies, and mitigate the enormous risks associated with international trade in a politically volatile and highly competitive environment. The result is a contribution to global food security that is sustainable, reliable, responsible, and resilient.

Characteristics of the highly successful and sustainable grain trade NAEGA supports include:

• Highly efficient system that can receive, store, sort, blend and ship large amounts of grain of uniform quality to a diverse international customer base. At export, multiple commodity loading ability is combined with vessel-loading rates that reach 3200-3400 tons per hour. Year-round capacity to supply a wide assortment of contractual specifications for both quality and quantity at several different ports.
• Competitive suppliers provide several options for buyers by providing a system that is highly flexible (food, feed, industrial markets).
• Reliance on contract sanctity and a built-in system of commercial dispute resolution that includes several private dispute settlement mechanisms to  provide an alternative to public judicial systems.
• Third-party service providers to complete vital steps in the value chain including finance, inspection, insurance, certifications, risk management, quality controls and information management. 
•  The ability to meet rigorous and sound regulatory measures, complex standards and market requirements.