ED&F Man was founded in 1783, at 23 Harp Lane, London, by James Man. The company originally operated as a barrel manufacturer and as a middleman in the sugar trade. However, the cooperage branch disappeared very soon and only a year after the founding, James Man secured the contract as the official rum supplier to the Royal Navy for the daily “rum tot.” The “rum tot” tradition, whereby all sailors were guaranteed a daily amount of rum, survived until 1970, and for all 186 years it was Man who held the contract.
In 1802 the company differentiated itself by also beginning to trade coffee, cocoa and other commodities. The first trades took place during candle auctions held in coffee shops. Eight years later the company moved to Mincing Lane, an area not far from the Thames docks, which at the time was the hub of London’s commodities trade.
Today, after more than 240 years of history, ED&F Man Commodities is one of the world’s leading soft commodities brokers, sourcing, supplying, transporting and storing a wide range of commodities, including coffee, sugar and molasses.
ED&F Man is also a strong player in the feed, liquid products and fertilizer sectors, as well as industrial fermentation and supplements for biogas plants.
Born in Whitechapel, east London, and apprenticed to William Humphrey as a barrel maker, James Man went on to set up his own business as a sugar-broker. James Man set up his own business as a barrel maker and sugar-broker at 23 Harp Lane, London. The cooperage side of the business soon disappeared. James Man secured a contract to supply the Royal Navy with rum for the daily ‘rum tot’, a tradition under which all sailors were allocated a daily ration of rum. This tradition continued until 1970, with Man holding the contract for the full 186 years. Man begins to trade coffee, cocoa and other commodities. Trades are conducted at candle auctions held in coffee houses. Mincing Lane was the hub of London’s commodity trading centre, a couple of streets north of the docks on the river Thames. James Man retired in 1819 and moved to Dartmouth in Devon on the south coast of England. He died there in 1823. The Chicago Board of Trade is set up as a cash market for grain. Forward or ‘to arrive’ contracts begin trading at the CBOT almost immediately. Salomon and Johann Georg Volkart found Volkart Brothers with offices in Winterthur, Switzerland and Bombay, India. The Kansas Board of Trade is established by local Kansas City merchants as a means of trading grain. Volkart Brothers starts its first coffee venture in India. The Chicago Board of Trade brings in formal trading rules, particularly for margin and delivery procedures – an important step in the evolution of futures contracts. The company changes its name to ED&F Man, incorporating the initials of James Man’s grandsons, Edward Desborough and Frederick, who took over the firm. The Chicago Board of Trade begins publishing futures. The Coffee Exchange in New York City trades its first coffee contracts. In the same year the New York Butter and Cheese Exchange is merged with other exchanges to form the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex). Miss Sadie Braithwaite becomes the first female member of staff in ED&F Man. She served in the company for over 30 years. Messrs Schuurmans & van Ginneken form a partnership to trade in sugar, molasses, coffee and cocoa. The crash in 1929 marked the beginning of the Great Depression. The Commodity Exchange is founded from the merger of the Metal Exchange, the Rubber Exchange of New York, the National Raw Silk Exchange and the New Hide Exchange. Westway Trading Corporation originated in the 1940s as a family-owned molasses trading business initially known as Industrial Molasses Company. The company begins trading coffee from Latin America to destinations across the western hemisphere. Volkart Brothers commence operations in North and South America, Africa, and Europe from 1950 to the 1980s. The European Free Trade Association is formed. The US Agriculture Department’s Commodities Exchange Authority publishes the first monthly commitments of traders report, replacing the annual reports that had previously been published. Times change – the Royal Navy discontinues its rum rations for sailors, so the contract with ED&F Man comes to an end after 186 years. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission declares a market emergency in the December coffee ‘C’ futures contract on the New York Coffee and Sugar Exchange, resulting in an orderly reduction of the open interest in that contract. This is one of several emergencies in coffee futures during the late 1970s. ED&F Man celebrates its 200th anniversary and diversifies into financial services and alternative investment management. ED&F Man acquires Schuurmans & van Ginneken’s molasses business. ED&F Man launches the CHL Innovator, the first bulk white sugar vessel using the ‘bulk in-bags out’ system (BIBO). On Monday October 19 1987 stock markets around the world crashed shedding a huge value in a short time. Beginning in Hong Kong, it spread to Europe and then the USA. ED&F Man takes a 51 per cent stake in a London-based quantative investment manager, AHL. ED&F Man also acquires GNP Commodities in Chicago and cocoa trader Gill & Duffus. The coffee company is renamed Volcafe Limited. Volcafe expands its business in Australia, South and Central America, Southeast Asia, East Africa, and the United States from 1989 to 2003. ED&F Man acquires Westway’s molasses trading, storage and liquid feed business. In the year that saw the Maastricht Treaty of the European Union, ED&F Man launches the second bulk white sugar vessel, the ‘CHL Progressor’. ED&F Man acquires Paine Webber metals in London. 1994 saw the end of apartheid and the election of Nelson Mandela as South Africa’s president. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was also created. 1994 was also a momentous year for Man, who listed on the London Stock Exchange. ED&F Man launches its latest BIBO ship: ‘Pioneer’. ED&F Man acquires Index Futures Group and Standard Chartered’s brokerage operation. ED&F Man acquires Cargill’s international molasses, liquid feed and storage business. The US company Cargill is selling the portion of ‘Italian Molasses,’ along with its production facility, to ED&F Man. ED&F Man makes its brand prevail over SvG also in Italy. The Cargill and SvG plants, both located in the Ravenna hinterland, are taken over and structured by ED&F Man. Between 2000 and 2010, the company’s fertilizer production division specialized in the production and management of liquid products ED&F Man acquires Tate & Lyle’s North American molasses, liquid feed and storage business. ED&F Man acquires Swiss based Volcafe, becoming one of the world’s leading coffee merchants. ED&F Man Liquid Products Italia brand is born ED&F Man becomes the London Metal Exchange’s first new floor trading member in more than 10 years. Lehman Brothers, a major investment bank and a future in the US financial sector for more than 150 years, files for the largest bankruptcy in US history. The Dow Jones industrial average suffers the worst week of losses in its history, dropping by 22.1 per cent. ED&F Man stops trading cocoa and increases focus on the company’s core commodities – sugar, coffee and molasses. ED&F Man expands its brokerage division by forming ED&F Man Capital Markets. German sugar-producer Südzucker acquires an equity investment of 24.99 per cent in ED&F Man. Sugar Plus, the brand of ED&F Man Liquid Products Italy dedicated to the formulation, production and distribution of liquid feed for ruminants, is born. True sustainability – 230 years of innovation and expertise. Volcafe’s comprehensive farmer support programme is rolled out after two years of research and development. ED&F Man acquires two Netherlands-based companies: Mercatura trades raw materials for the animal feed industry, specialising in co-products from sugar, and Feedimpex has over 30 years’ experience trading dried sugar-beet pulp. ED&F Man acquires Royal Ingredients, a successful specialty sugar processor and distributor. ED&F Man acquires more shares in Chilean commodities company Empresas Iansa, resulting in approximately 92 per cent ownership of the company. ED&F Man acquires the remaining 49 per cent it did not already own in sugar company SIS ’88 from Kuok (Singapore), taking its ownership to 100 per cent. A global leader in the origination, processing and trading of dried edible pulses, seeds and speciality crops. The company has become one of the top three coffee merchants, sourcing 12 percent of the world’s export market. Volcafe adopts a new, purpose-led proposition: Making coffee business better, together. The Volcafe Sustainability Strategy combines and focuses activities in three key pillars: Sustainable Profitability, Regenerative Practices and Responsible Citizenship. Almagra, the brand of ED&F Man Liquid Products Italia’s leading fertilizer and biostimulant brand, is born. In March 2022 ED&F Man Holdings Limited completed a restructuring which saw ED&F Man Commodities Limited created as a separate, stand-alone soft commodities business.
