AgriBriefing, the leading agri-food price reporting agency, today announces the acquisition of Tropical Research Services (TRS). TRS provides proprietary field research and market data for clients involved in a range of tropical commodity products including coffee, cocoa, sugar, cane ethanol, tropical oils, grains and oilseeds. TRS was originally an in-house research unit of a large US asset-management company before being spun out as a standalone entity in 2009. The business was founded by Steve Wateridge & Sean Diffley. Steve had been Head of Coffee and Cocoa Research at ED&F Man – the large global commodity trading house. Sean also had a background with ED&F Man where he had been the Head of Global Trading in their sugar division. The business now has a network of field agents and specialist analysts in West Africa, South America and Southeast Asia. Large clients involved in the production, trading and procurement of tropical commodities rely on TRS to provide proprietary fundamental analysis for these markets.