As part of USSEC’s High Impact Program’s series of mini meetings in the EU, a meeting was held in Rennes, France on March 27.  Rennes is the center of the Bretagne (Brittany) region, where the greatest portion of France’s feed and meat production as well as the country’s soybean meal imports are concentrated.  Last year, France imported around 3,300,000 metric tons (MT) of soybean meal, with some coming from the U.S., in addition to 500,000 MT of soybeans.  Traditionally, the French have imported a large percentage of their soy from Brazil but began last winter to import U.S. soybean meal that showed better quality and more competitiveness.  Industrial feed production in France is about 21 MT plus feed on farm.  France has a healthy poultry and hog industry and exports poultry to North African countries.  The main players in France’s import business are Bunge, Dreyfus, Cargill and Noble.

The meeting followed the series theme, “U.S. Soybean Meal Quality, Sustainability and Market.”  USSEC consultant Lola Herrera introduced USSEC and discussed its objectives and projects to participants.  She also covered soybean meal markets.  USSEC consultant Dr Jan van Eys of GANS, France talked about sustainability and presented the U.S. Soybean Sustainability Assurance Protocol to customers.  USSEC consultant Professor Gonzalo G. Mateos of the University of Spain lectured about soybean meal quality by origin, explaining the advantage of U.S. soybean meal quality against other origins and nutrition applications.  David Salmon, Counselor of USDA’s Office of Agricultural Affairs in Paris, gave an overview of U.S. soybean markets.  Alain Glon, president of the Breton think tank Institute Locarn, talked about the future of the food and feed industry and Linda Kallal, of the CME group, gave a presentation related to futures market and risk management in the soybean meal purchases.