Commission publishes EU feed protein balance sheet for 2019/20

For marketing year 2019/20, feed demand is forecasted to increase by 2 million tonnes of crude proteins, compared to 2018/19, and reach 84 million tonnes. Thanks to higher availability of roughage, EU self-sufficiency has improved and reached 78% for 2019/20. Still, lower availabilities of EU rapeseed (meals) put pressure on the EU self-sufficiency. These are among the key findings of the ‘EU feed protein balance sheet’ for 2019/20, published today by the European Commission.

Roughage, such as grass and silage maize, remains the main source of feed protein, representing 45% of total EU feed use, an increase of 2% compared to 2018/19. The share of all oilseed meals has decreased by 1%, representing 25% of total feed use in the EU. Finally, cereals continue to be available in ample supply, at 20% of total feed use.

In terms of self-sufficiency, the EU is fully self-sufficient in roughage. However, for oilseeds meals, the EU only produces 24% of what it needs to feed its livestock sector.

COVID-19 crisis caused a severe drop in biofuel demand and reduced the availability of rapeseed meal (-7%), partly compensated by higher imports of soya beans. In the cereals category, more barley was used for feed (+6%). Barley was widely used due to a weak demand in the malting sector due to beer consumption dropping during the COVID-19 crisis

CONTINUE READING ON ec.europa.eu