7.1.2.3Vertical

Grain & Oilseed Merchandising Companies

Firms buying, transporting, and selling corn, soybeans, wheat, and canola in domestic and export markets.

Market snapshot

These figures describe Agricultural Commodity Trading & Merchandising (7.1.2), the segment that Grain & Oilseed Merchandising Companies sits within. They are not figures for Grain & Oilseed Merchandising Companies on its own.

Market size
~$310B
Growth
~7.8%CAGR (2017–22, nominal)
Companies
~3,409 firms
Firms by employee count

77.4% of firms have fewer than 20 employees: 2,639 micro-businesses, below most mandates.

The investable universe769 firms with 20+ employees
20–99
53469%
100–499
15420%
500+
8111%

The largest agribusiness segment by revenue and the thinnest by margin: merchants book the full value of the grain that passes through them, so a percentage point of gross margin is the whole business. Growth here is commodity price, not volume, and it reverses as fast as it came.

NAICS 424510, 424520, 424590. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses; U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census.

Business model & economics

Revenue model

Commodity origination, storage, trading, and merchandising

Key economics

Revenue per firm
$90,901,385
Revenue per employee
$4,716,418
Employees per firm
19.2
Recurring revenue
Moderate

recurring trade flows; volatile margins

EBITDA margin
Thin pass-through; volatility- and logistics-driven
Capex intensity
Moderate

Characteristics

  • Scale-driven: payroll is only 1% of revenue, so the cost base is assets, not headcount
  • Moderate strategic-buyer pool: 81 firms exceed 500 employees, so a scaled asset has buyers, but not many
  • Dominated by ABCD trading houses and CHS.
  • Margins driven by global imbalances and volatility.
  • Information, storage, and origination networks key.

NAICS 424510, 424520, 424590. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses; U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census.

Geographic concentration

AlabamaAlaskaArizonaColoradoFloridaGeorgiaIndianaKansasMaineMassachusettsMinnesotaNew JerseyNorth CarolinaOklahomaPennsylvaniaTexasWyomingConnecticutMissouriWest VirginiaIllinoisNew MexicoArkansasCaliforniaDelawareDistrict of ColumbiaHawaiiKentuckyMarylandMichiganMississippiMontanaNew HampshireNew YorkOhioOregonTennesseeUtahVirginiaWashingtonWisconsinNebraskaSouth CarolinaIdahoNevadaVermontLouisianaRhode IslandNorth DakotaSouth DakotaIowa

North Dakota carries nearly eleven times the national concentration of grain merchants, with South Dakota and Iowa behind. This is the spring-wheat and corn belt, where elevators and traders sit at every rail siding.

North DakotaSouth DakotaIowa

U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses (firms by state), NAICS 424510/424520/424590. Concentration shown by location quotient.

M&A deal context

Deal activityModerate

Who’s acquiring

  • Global trading houses
  • Cooperatives & regional merchandisers
  • Vertically-integrating processors

What’s driving deals

  • Scale and origination-network consolidation.
  • Vertical integration into processing.
  • Global trade-flow and storage positioning.

Find Grain & Oilseed Merchandising Companies acquisition targets

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