Michel Soufflet is a French industrialist and the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of his family company, the Soufflet Group, which is the largest miller of grain and producer of

malt Malt is germinated cereal grain that has been dried in a process known as " malting". The grain is made to germinate by soaking in water and is then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air. Malted grain is used to make beer, wh ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. In 2018, his fortune was reported as €1 billion.

Family and childhood

His parents were Jean Soufflet and Yvonne Juchat. Juchat had inherited her family's small grain collecting business in

Nogent-sur-Seine Nogent-sur-Seine () is a commune in the Aube department in north-central France. The headquarters of The Soufflet Group is located here, as is the Musée Camille Claudel. The large Nogent Nuclear Power Plant is located here. Population ...

, and with Jean Soufflet developed it into the

private limited company A private limited company is any type of business entity in "private" ownership used in many jurisdictions, in contrast to a publicly listed company, with some differences from country to country. Examples include the '' LLC'' in the United Sta ...

“Etablissements J. Soufflet”.

Business career

Michel Soufflet officially joined the company in 1947; at the time, it had only seven employees. He entered military service in 1948,and then returned to the business. By the time his father died in 1957, the company had expanded with a branch in North Africa, ''SARL Nord Africaine de produits alimentaires'', and a

production plant in Nogent-sur-Seine. Upon taking over the business, he increased the customer portfolio, and diversified the company's business into selling agricultural supplies. He developed the roll-on service in 1962, in which trucks picked up and transported cereals directly from field to

silo A silo (from the Greek σιρός – ''siros'', "pit for holding grain") is a structure for storing bulk materials. Silos are used in agriculture to store fermented feed known as silage, not to be confused with a grain bin, which is used t ...

. After the

Treaty of Rome The Treaty of Rome, or EEC Treaty (officially the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community), brought about the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC), the best known of the European Communities (EC). The treaty was sig ...

opened up prospects for exporting within the

EEC The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...

, he took the unusual course of exporting by sea, and built his own silo and export facilities at

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...

. In 2000, Michel Soufflet passed the executive torch to his son Jean-Michel. Laurence Soufflet, his daughter, became Head of Communication.

Other activities

He is Director of Secobra Recherche, Member of the specialist board of the France cereals sector (formerly ONIC), and Chairman of SYMEX (French export milling association). He is a Knight of France's Order of Merit (1978), a Knight of France's Legion of Honour (1988), and recipient of the Commander of Merit in Agriculture (1997), and an officer of France's Legion of Honour (1999). He was awarded the Order of Franco-Russian Friendship by

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

in June 2000.

References

1930 births Living people French businesspeople French chairpersons of corporations Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite Knights of the Legion of Honour {{France-business-bio-stub