Rabobank adds girth with stronger food appetite in Asia

ONE suspects nothing gets Marcel van Doremaele more excited than a scatterplot of consumption patterns in Asia. The CEO at Rabobank International, Singapore, is fired up by the expected rise in demand in food products as GDP (gross domestic product) in this part of the world rises over time.

Over an interview with The Business Times, Mr van Doremaele thumbed through a presentation of charts that show the correlation between GDP, and consumption of food produce such as dairy products and meat. "This is such a beautiful curve," he cooed, pointing to a gentle - but still gratifying - curve that plots dairy consumption against the income of countries from Indonesia, Thailand, China, to the US, and Australia.

As it is, the Dutch bank has already posted over the last few years more than 10 per cent growth on the back of growing appetite for commodities. The bank does not break down its global figures. "We have seen, over the past years, double-digit growth, because the strategy allows us to really focus on these clients in food and agri, and commodities," said Mr van Doremaele, who has personal interests in this area, having been born into farming families on both parents' sides, and whose two brothers still run a farm growing mushrooms and fruits.