Glossary
3.1.7 EU supply chains to sustain the EU demand for PRPs
Supply chains of plant proteins encompass a great diversity of models. These different organisational arrangements depend on various criteria that have been identified during the study, such as:
‐ Member states (significant differences can be observed in organisational patterns, especially between the EU-15 and other MS),
‐ commodity markets vs high value markets,
‐ for high value markets, the type of market strategy used (labelling, type of negotiation, standard)
‐ the relative importance of by-products (oil / protein, starch / protein),
‐ governance (forward contracts or not, collective organisations or not, type of price negotiation, price setting),
‐ geographical scale,
‐ etc.
The paragraphs below therefore present average situations of each value chain of the studied products.
3.1.7.1 Soya bean supply chains in the EU
The EU farms produce 2.5Mt of soya bean grain42. Collectors deliver soya beans to oil extractors (around 2Mt43), to the food industry and to extruders. Oil extractors import 12 Mt of soya beans and transform it, with the grain from the collectors, into 11Mt of crush mainly going to the feed industry and into 2.5Mt of oil going to oil collectors44.The compound feed companies also import 18.3Mt of soya meal45 and around 2Mt of beans and process it, with the incorporation of other raw materials into compound feed, sold to intermediaries and/or then to livestock farms.
Figure 13 gives a summary of this supply chain, the size of the arrows being proportional to flows.
Figure 13: Main flows of materials to sustain the demand in the soya bean sector (Million tonnes, Source: own work based on several sources: Eurostat, Comext, Dg Agri, ENSA, etc. Campaign 2016-2017)
42 Eurostat.
43 DG Agri.
44 DG Agri and Terres Univia for the average oil yield of soya bean
45 DG Agri.
For this supply chain, the most significant supply comes from imports and the largest demand is for feed (98% of volume). The uses of soya bean as food are numerous, from processed plant protein products (e.g. tofu, soy drinks, etc.) to products mainly used for their functionalities (e.g. viscosity, emulsifying, texturizing, etc.). Both feed and food markets of soya bean include specific market premium segments in GM-free and organic products (see § 435 & 436).
3.1.7.2 Other oilseed supply chains in the EU
This chapter treats mainly the rapeseed and sunflower productions. EU farms produce 28.6Mt of oilseeds46. Collectors deliver oilseeds to oil extractors (around 26.7Mt47), to the food industry and directly to the feed industry. Oil extractors also import 5.5Mt of grain and process this grain into 17.8 Mt of meal48 mainly going to the feed industry and into 13.6Mt of oil going to oil collectors49. Animal compound feed factories also import 3.9Mt of oilseed meal50 and process it into compound feed (incorporating other raw materials), sold to retailers and then livestock holdings51. Oil collectors deliver 6.2Mt of oil dedicated to the biodiesel sector52, exports 0.8Mt53 and 4.5Mt to the food industry54.
On the food side, the food industry also imports oilseed grain and produces food products that are sold to retailers and then consumers55 (see Figure 14).
Figure 14: Main flows of material to sustain the demand in the “other oilseeds” sector (Million tonnes, Source: own work based on several sources (Eurostat, Comext, Dg Agri, FEDIOL, etc. Campaign 2016-2017)
46 Eurostat.
47 Own calculation based on the EU meal production, DG Agri and Terres Univia for the average oil yield of rapeseed and sunflower.
48 DG Agri.
49 FEDIOL.
50 DG Agri.
51 The compound feed arrows are not quantified, as they represent products composed of various materials and not only soya bean.
52 USDA, FEDIOL.
53 FEDIOL.
54 FEDIOL.
55 The food products arrows are not quantified, as they represent products composed of various materials and not only oilseeds
For this supply chain, the most significant supply comes from the EU itself and the demand is for food (for which oil is the main demand), the energy sector (oil for biodiesel) and feed (through meals). Both feed and food markets of rapeseed and sunflower include a specific organic premium market segment (see § 4.3.5).
3.1.7.3 Pulse supply chains in the EU
EU farms produce 5.7 Mt56 of pulse grains57, and part of them also directly use pulses on-farm as feed (very little data on it at the EU level). Collectors deliver around 1.2 Mt pulses to the food industry and 3.4 Mt to the feed industry. The sector also exports around 1.2Mt of pulses. In addition, compound feed factories import 0.6 Mt of pulses and process it into compound feed (incorporated with other raw materials) which is sold to retailers or for export and then to livestock holdings58. On the food side, the food industry also imports pulses (0.7Mt) and produces food products; these are sold to retailers or exported and eventually sold to consumers59 (see Figure 15).
Figure 15: Main flows of materials to sustain the demand in the pulses sector (Million tonnes, Campaign 2017/2018; Source: own work based on several sources (Eurostat, Comext, Dg Agri, ENSA, etc.))
For this supply chain, more than half of the supply comes from the EU (54 %). Feed demand is higher (around 2/3) than food demand. In value terms, the food sector has developed high-margin products going both to consumers (e.g. grain used as such) and the food industry for protein extraction (mainly with peas). Both feed and food markets of pulses include specific market premium for organic products (see § 4.3.5).
3.1.7.4 Legume fodder supply chains in the EU
Forage legumes can be cultivated as pure stand or combined with other crops, mostly with other fodder grasses. Forages of legume plants are mostly self-consumed on farm under various conservation forms: hay, haylage, silage or sometimes directly grazed as such. Exchanges between farmers within a close territory are common but difficult to track because these are not reported in
56 DG Agri.
57 In this figure, only field beans, peas and lupines are studied, as data for other pulse crops was not available.
58 The compound feed arrows are not quantified, as they represent products composed of various materials and not only pulses.
59 The food products arrows are not quantified, as they represent products composed of various materials and not only pulses.
farming statistics and often informal. In some areas, legume fodder such as alfalfa (sometimes clover) is harvested green (undried or semi-sun-dried) to be dehydrated in a dehydration plant. For quality and handling reasons, traded legume fodders are essentially sundried (hay) and dehydrated fodder (else water would be transported). After being dehydrated, fodder can be given back to the forage- producing farms to feed cattle (mixed farms) or sold to other farmers, animal feed producers, traders, and exporters. Plant processing allows forms of packaging (pellets, bales, compressed bales, small bales, meal) and allocation of harvests in drying plants enables segmenting the market with different quality products (levels of fibre, protein, energy, etc.).
• Sun-cured fodder: sun-cured fodder (hay) is normally less homogeneous and is for the domestic market. Sun-cured fodder operations include mowing, which may be combined with conditioning;
turning and tedding to allow an even drying, windrowing, collection and baling.
• Dehydrated fodder: alfalfa destined for dehydration is cut in the field. After a pre-drying phase in the field, it is windrowed and transported to the fodder processing plant, either by processors or farmers.
Figure 16: Legume fodder sector in the EU (Million tonnes normalized at 10% moisture, Sources: EUROSTAT, CIDE, (Huyghe et al., 2014))
Figure 16 shows the tremendous auto-consumption in livestock farms. There is nevertheless a market of dehydrated legume fodders and significant exports (cf. parts 3.1.7.4, 3.3.2, 3.5.3 and chapter 4).
3.2 EU demand for PRPs