“Cargill is exploring several opportunities in the agricultural space as Pakistan is an important market for us. Cargill’s global expertise, other than in commodity trade, lies in areas including farming, feed milling, meat processing, oilseed crushing etc,” Mr Nasrullah added. “We aim to leverage our strengths to help address the needs of the Pakistani market, whether through a greenfield investment or collaborating with local partners.”

Mr. Imran Nasrullah praised Fauji Foundation as a large corporation that has been doing solid business over the last ten years.“Fauji Foundation has a good reputation in the country. Cargill feels that this partnership, starting with the FAP terminal at the port can open many opportunity to partner with other groups like Fauji, and diversify in agriculture and food,” Mr Nasrullah said. 

Waqar Ahmed Malik, the MD of Fauji Foundation, has played a very important role in shaping up the partnership between both groups.

FAP is the only modern grain terminal in the country and handles around 2.5MT of imports annually. These imports are expected to further grow in tandem with the demands of a large population. A large portion of these imports include soybeans, which are crushed locally and have resulted in a large domestic oilseeds processing industry, officials said. “It is therefore imperative that the port runs its operations as efficiently and effectively as possible,” Mr Nasrullah said, adding that Cargill has a lot of experience in handling port operations and can help Fauji Foundation improve the efficiencies at the port and further modernize the operations using learnings from ports around the world.

Mr. Nasrullah assumed the role Cargill country head in January 2018. In this role he oversees the business in Pakistan and has regional responsibilities in the grain and oilseeds business in Asia. Last year it took a big leap into the local market when it announced investment plans of $200 million. However, the current financial plans might vary due to the changed circumstances after the pandemic.

The Cargill country head said the partnership with Fauji Foundation is the first big local partnership. Cargill owns and operates (either wholly or partly) more than 30 ports around the world, of which 4 are in Asia. These include both sea ports and river ports. “With immense technical experience in managing port operations, we have been able to improve the efficiencies of ports (berth utilization, discharge rates, lay-times etc.) in several ports and strongly believe we will be able to improve the operations at FAP as well,” Mr Nasrullah said.

As the world grapples with Covid-19 businesses have been adapting to the unparalleled challenges posed by pandemic. Cargill Pakistan team has been working from home since the start of the pandemic. “Due to the implementation of remote operations, we have had to ensure that new protocols and equipment are in place that would allow the employees to work effectively from home. There are also new procedures in place that must be followed when dealing with the customers and other external personnel to ensure safety for all,” Mr Nasrullah said.

“Along with safety of the employees, it was imperative that we continued to run our operations smoothly. We implemented proper SOPs in our office and most of our employees worked from home. Besides this, we also ensured we provided them with essential supplies such as masks and sanitizers,” he said. “We worked closely with our partners and through close communication, ensured there were no major impediments in our operations. This pro-active, flexible approach has been helping us handle the situation effectively.”

Mr. Imran Nasrullah said he was optimistic about the potential of growth and cooperation in the country. “Overall we are encouraged by the workforce in Pakistan. We want to do our bit to nurture that talent and create opportunities for Cargill, and certainly for Pakistan,” Mr Nasrullah said.