Price Expected to Determine Future Biofuel Co-Product Use in Europe
CANADA - A Netherlands based animal nutrition company predicts price will be a key factor that will determine the volumes of co-products from biofuel production that will be used in livestock rations in Europe over the coming years, writes Bruce Cochrane.
16 February 2007
3 minute read
European Union policy targets 5.75 of the total transportation fuel to come from biofuels which will mean a much greater availability of co-products.
Coen Smits, the manager of Nutreco Agriculture R&D's swine research centre, says this expanded biofuel production will create increased competition for the raw materials for feed, fuel and food.
Coen Smits-Nutreco Agriculture R&D
The projections indicate that we will have about 20 million tonnes biofuel co-products extra available in 2010-2011.
Because in Europe a big amount of the biofuels are biodiesels we speak then about co-products such as rapeseed meal and glycerol and from bioethanol the main ingredient that we use for that is wheat at the moment so there will be a wheat dried distillers grain solubles and they will be included in the feeds.
On the other hand we will have to wait and see what the effects are on the raw material prices.
How the total feed composition will look at the end, there will be more co-products from biofuel composition included but we will have to see what will happen with the prices of the other raw materials.
At this moment for example there is already some volume of wheat DDGS and glycerol available but we see and notice, in pig feeds at least, that at this moment it is not so attractive from a price point of view that it is included at high levels in pig feeds in the Netherlands.
Smits is confident these co-products will be useful new feed ingredients
but the price of the raw materials as well as of the biofuel co-products will be a key factor.
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