French feed review 2008 is misleading reality

The General assembly was themed on the place of the animal feed industry and sustainable development. But in the immediate future, the animal feed industry is facing difficulties it shares with that of the livestock sector resulting in a negative trend in manufacturing according to SNIA monthly analyses.

Nevertheless, the 2008 balance sheet is misleading because the final figures presented by SNIA are still showing an increase of 1% of French production for the second consecutive year. With 22.56 million tonnes, France has retained its first place in Europe, followed by Germany (21.8 Mt, +2.5%) and Spain, which faced a sharp decline of nearly 10% to 19.2 Mt.

The situation has reversed and unfortunately it is highly unlikely that the 2009 balance sheet is still positive.Most of the production of feed is manufactured in the north west of the country, 9.2 Mt in Brittany and 3.9 Mt in Pays-de-la-Loire.

This industry is not immune to the concentration that characterizes the French feed and food industry. It now has 214 companies on 317 sites. The number of manufacturing units with low capacity decreases while the number of large capacity feed makers remained stable, resulting in a sharp increase in average tonnage per firm, over 40% in seven years.