Raw material use in EU feeding

This is published by Rabobank. Grain makes up the largest part of feed in the EU, accounting for about 70%, followed by about 25% oil meals. The EU accounts for 18% of all globally used grain for feeding. And although grain fed in the EU has marginally grown over the last 10 years, other regions have shown stronger growth rates.

Raw material supply

According to the report from Rabobank, the wheat supply in the EU this season has been very different from previous years. France faced strong rains during the wheat harvest period 2016, which resulted in the lowest French wheat yields in 30 years and in significant quality reductions, which increased the share of feed wheat quality. Many other western-European countries also saw a year-on-year decline in production, leaving overall EU wheat production at 136m tonnes, 10% down on last year.

EU 2016 barley production, at 60 m tonnes, was in line with the average of the previous 3 years. Barley feeding in the EU this marketing year is expected to rise by more than 10% year-on-year and to exceed 40 m tonnes, as the rains across France have resulted in a 65% the share of feed barley quality in the EU, well above the usual 55% to 60%. 2016 EU corn production reached 61 m tonnes, up 3 m tonnes year-on-year, but the overall supply of corn in the EU is not as good as that of feed barley and feed wheat and thus the amount of corn in feed will decline by about 5% to 50 m tonnes.

In addition, the EU feeds rye, and other grains, including mixed grains, durum, sorghum, and oats. Besides grains, 56 m tonnes of oil meals are fed in the EU. The type of oilseed feed ingredients used in the EU is seen in the figure below.