BRUSSELS, BELGIUM — Bernard Valluis has been elected as the new president of the European Flour Millers’ Association. He takes over the post for the coming two years from Gary Sharkey, who has led the association for the last three years.

“Bernard Valluis is one of our most accomplished colleagues for that position, and I wish him all the success possible in his presidency. The European Flour Millers’ Association has always used a strong sector expertise base as a foundation for its work with the public institutions,” said Sharkey. “Moreover, one important lesson from the visits we made around the world is that the E.U. flour milling sector has a well-deserved global reputation for excellence, safety, quality and innovation. Part of our job, in my view, is to maintain and enhance this position in the coming decades, and our E.U. association has a very important role to play in sustaining this reputation.”

Valluis has been a deputy president of the French Flour Milling Association (Association Nationale de la Meunerie Française) since 2009, and was previously executive director at Soufflet Group with different positions including Trading Division.

He started his career in economic research, before leading the French Corn Growers Association. He has chaired many national and European grain trading and processing associations as well as GAFTA.

Sharkey is president of the European Flour Millers. He was previously president of E.U. Primary Food Processors and head of wheat procurement at Premier Foods for nine years.

Following his election, Valluis said, “There are many challenges ahead of us, such as the competitiveness of our primary industry in a better functioning food supply chain, the permanent access to sustainable high-quality and safe wheat, rye and oat, or the implementation of transparency rules to enable more E.U. millers to hedge against the increasing risk of raw materials’ price fluctuations. I also wish our association to support the E.U. milling industry’s integration into the new economy.”

With some 45 million tonnes of soft wheat and rye processed each year, more than 3,800 companies employing 45,000 people, the E.U. flour milling industry is the largest single food user of E.U. domestic wheat, rye and oat.  

Today, the European Flour Millers’ Association includes national associations in E.U. member states including: Verband der Mühlenindustrie, Austria; the Baltic Millers Association, Baltic countries; KVBM-ARMB, Belgium; the Union of Bulgarian Millers, Bulgaria; the Croatian Flour Millers Association, Croatia; the Cyprus Flour Milling Association (CFMA), Cyprus; Svaz Prumyslovych mlynu CR, Czech Republic; Foreningen af Danske Handelsmoller, Denmark; Kauppamyllyjen Yhdistys r.y., Finland;  Association Nationale de la Meunerie Française, France; Verband Deutscher Mühlen, Germany; the Greek Flour Millers Association, Greece; the National Association of British and Irish Millers (NABIM), Ireland and U.K.; Italmopa, Italy; Fédération des Meuniers Luxembourgeois, Luxembourg; NEBAFA, Netherlands; the Polish Millers Association, Poland; APIM, Portugal; Gospodarska Zbornica Slovenije – GZS, Slovenia; Asociación de Fabricantes de Harinas y Sémolas de España, Spain;  and the Swedish Flour Milling Association, Sweden.g

The five associate members include Dachverband Schweizerischer Müller, Switzerland; Iceland Flour Milling Association, Iceland; Turkish Flour Industrialists' Federation (TFIF), Turkey; the Russian Union of Flour Mills and Cereal Plants, Russia; and the Millers of Ukraine Union, Ukraine.