Trader Trainee Intern; Ingredients Sales & Marketing

Louis Dreyfus Company is a leading merchant and processor of agricultural goods. Our activities span the entire value chain from farm to fork, across a broad range of business lines, we leverage our global reach and extensive asset network to serve our customers and consumers around the world. Structured as a matrix organization of six geographical regions and ten platforms, Louis Dreyfus Company is active in over 100 countries and employs approximately 18,000 people globally.

The objective of the intern program is to train an individual on the basics of ingredients sales and trading including; understanding the manufacturing process of ingredients, supply and demand relationships, hedging, prospecting new customers, customer relations, price negotiation skills, freight spread analysis, basic accounting and helping to work on data analysis.

This internship will ideally be 8-10 weeks and located in the Wilton office. Prefer local candidates, start date ASAP. This person will need to possess a genuine interest in sales and enjoys interacting with new people daily, with the ability to socialize easily and gain trust and extract information through conversation.

• Gathering US import and export data on new products joining our portfolio due to LDC’s acquisition of BASF’s emulsifier business in Europe.
• Using LDC’s new AI features to screen for prospective customers to build a hit list of new customers, for all products but also the new ingredients we will have from the BASF acquisition.
• Freight spread work on prospective customers for LDC’s new soybean oil refinery in Upper Sandusky Ohio. Rank destinations by freight cost. Compare freight vs. our competitors’ refineries and determine where we have the right to play.
• Customer prospecting using online tools and cold calling to find a potential buyer for our products. Setting up intro calls with a senior salesperson on our team and joining the calls to learn how we introduce LDC products and what our capabilities are to a new customer.
• Potentially join our team at a trade show in the third week of July in Chicago and meet the broader ingredients team for LDC. Gather information from prospective customers visiting the LDC booth and follow up with those new leads after the show.
• Using Power BI, build out reports on our historical business and do some customer stratification reports.
• Learn to negotiate prices and contract terms with customers. Elevate skills to maximize price, payment terms, and awarded volumes.
• Input contracts into front office system.
• Learn and practice methods for hedging canola oil purchases and sales.

• Research and analyze market data.
• Create spreadsheets to organize relevant data.

Must be enrolled in college pursuing a two or four-year degree in one of the following areas:
Business, economics, agriculture, communications or marketing.

• Willingness to learn the basics of futures markets, hedging and customer relations.
• Possesses a genuine interest in sales and enjoys interacting with new people daily, with the ability to socialize easily and gain trust and extract information through conversation.
• Skilled in communication, both written and verbal.
• Proficient with MS Word and Excel.
• Must be able to commute to the location.

Primarily climate-controlled office environment. Periodic visits to industrial operations areas are necessary with exposure to variety of temperatures and prevailing weather conditions. Regular exposure to gases, vapors, dust and odors. Occasional exposure to areas with wet floors and high volume of noise. Some stair climbing is required. Extensions of regular working hours are occasionally necessary to complete time-sensitive projects or to respond to emergencies.

Some weekend work will be required.

Supervises no other employees.

Exercises judgment, within established parameters, to arrive at appropriate merchandising/origination…