The oilseed market - France

1.2 Global market

The world oilseed market is a very dynamic market, as shown by the data in the graph below, taken from the OECD and FAO agricultural outlook.

From **** to ****, world soybean production is expected to increase by +**.*%, protein meal production by +**.*% and vegetable oil production by +**.*%.

World oilseed production and forecasts World, ****-****, million tons Source: ****

For soybeans, the market is driven by the countries in the following table. [***]

Let us study below the same table concerning palm oil, the main vegetable oil produced in the world. [***]

1.3 National market

In total, ****.* thousand tons of oilseeds were produced in France in ****.

In that same year, France had ****.* thousand hectares of cultivation area and has **.* thousand tons of yield per hectare.

On the graph below, which reports data from a conjunctural report of FranceAgriMer dated March ****, we can see that France produces mainly rapeseed (***).

Rapeseed represents more than half (***) of total French oilseed production, while sunflower accounts for **.**% of the total and soybeans for only *.**%.

Annual oilseed production France, ****, thousands of hectares and thousands of tons Source: ****

1.4 Foreign trade

Until ****, when imports and exports were almost equal, France exported more oilseeds than it imported.

Moreover, exports were clearly on the rise from **** to **** with a variation of +**.*%, as were imports, which increased by almost as much over the same period (***).

Foreign trade in oilseeds France, ****-****, millions of $USD Source: ****

Germany is the leading export country for French oilseeds: **.**% of French oilseeds go to Germany. It is followed by Spain , which accounts for **.**% of French exports, Belgium (***).

Main oilseed export countries France, ****, % Source: ****

France exports a quarter of its oilseeds to Canada (***), **.**% to the Netherlands and *.**% to Germany.

Main oilseed import countries France, ****, % Source: ****

1.5 Effects of the war in Ukraine on the market

The oilseed market has recently been disrupted at the global level by the events taking place in Ukraine (***). Ukraine is a country that is a champion of agriculture, but today, with the Black Sea occupied, agricultural production can no longer leave the country, which upsets the prices of several raw materials at the global level.

The example of sunflower oil

Ukraine normally produces **% of the world's sunflower oil, but its agriculture is at a complete standstill today and may be for some time to come. Thus, the future of the market is very uncertain.

This is what Jean-Philippe Puig (***) explained to BFMTV on March **, ****: "We are working on French sovereignty, especially for oils, but part of the impact of the crisis is the price of sunflower oil. In fact **% of sunflower oil comes from this area: **% from Ukraine and **% from Russia. Fortunately, France is a sunflower producer, but it still imports around *** million tons of sunflowers per year. "The President wishes to clarify that there will be no shortage in France, because the oils distributed to French consumers are produced from French seeds. Regarding other distributors, however, he explains that the group has assured its stock until the end of ****, but ...

2.1 French oilseed consumption

France is a producer of oilseeds, but also a consumer. the following graph contains data on total oilseed consumption in France, as well as details by type. It can be seen that rapeseed oil consumption exploded in the ****s, rising from *** thousand tonnes consumed annually in **** to **** thousand tonnes in ****, a significant variation of +***% in ** years, then stabilized and gradually decreased by -**.*% until **** to reach **** thousand tonnes in ****. The consumption of sunflower oil, on the other hand, has remained stable over the years, with a variation of -*.*% from **** to ****, passing from *** thousand tons annually consumed to *** in ** years. The same is true for the consumption of soybean oil, which has gone from *** thousand tons consumed annually to *** in the same period for a variation of +**.*%.

Oilseed consumption France, ****, in **** tons Source: ****

*,*** kilotons

Consumption of all oilseeds France, ****, in % Source: ****

Protein cake consumption

Protein cakes are products derived from the production of oilseeds for animal consumption. Soybean cakes are the most consumed.

The total French consumption in **** amounts to * *** kT in **** and is distributed as follows : soybean oil represents **% of the total, rapeseed oil **% and sunflower oil **%.

Consumption of oil cakes France, ****, in % Source: ****

2.2 Non-animal consumption

There are many uses for oilseed derivatives, their consumption can be human, animal, but also neither, as in the case of biodiesel. This product has been used for a long time, and since the end of the **th century more research has been conducted to determine all the possible uses of oilseed derivatives.

The advantages of oilseeds are that they are biodegradable, come from renewable feedstocks, and offer a high degree of molecular diversity.

The non-food sector constitutes an ever-increasing share of the use of vegetable oils and their derivatives. Here are some examples of uses :

fuels (***) lubricants solvents paints, varnishes and inks coatings such as linoleum cosmetics detergents and cleaning products plastics

Ester is a type of biodiesel obtained from vegetable oils by a transesterification operation with methanol, and HVO are the diesels obtained with hydrogenated vegetable oils.

The total French consumption of these products in **** was *,*** kT and was distributed as follows: rapeseed ester represents **% of the total, soybean ester **% and HVO *%.

Consumption of non-animal oilseed derivatives France, ****, in % Source: ****

2.3 Dried oleaginous fruits

The oil seeds are the "embryos" of the plants, while the oleaginous dried fruits are dried fruits. Among the oleaginous dried fruits we find:

Walnuts Almonds Hazelnuts Prunes Cashew nuts Macadamia nuts Figs Apricots Pistachios Dates

These oilseeds are rich in proteins, lipids, fibers, but also in nutrients such as calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, zinc, selenium, iron, and vitamins B*, B*, and E. The fibers facilitate the intestinal transit. However, one must be careful, because dried fruits lose vitamins during drying.

French consumption

almonds

hazelnuts

dates

almonds

prunes

hazelnuts

dates

A Businesscoot study is entirely dedicated to the dried fruit market in France.

Evolution of the per capita consumption of the main dried fruits in France France, ****-****, grams per capita per year Source: ****

2.4 A new market share: organic consumption

With the Covid-** crisis, the health concerns of French consumers have been brought to the forefront of their food expectations.

The trend of healthy, sustainable, local and seasonal consumption is therefore becoming more and more established, with a particular craze for "homemade" products. In ****, more than half of French people say they are buying more fresh products (***). [***]

evolution of organic consumption in France France, ****-****, billion euros Source: ****

Including household purchases for home consumption and purchases in tax-free restaurants, the organic market amounted to **.* billion euros in ****, with a variation of +**.*% compared to ****. The organic market has doubled in the last five years alone. In ****, organic products represented *.*% of French household food expenditure. From **** to ****, overall French food consumption increased by *.*%, while organic food consumption increased by **.*%, four times more. [***]

All this data should encourage food entrepreneurs to invest more and more in organic for the French market.

3.1 Geographical distribution of French production

In France, oilseed production can be summarized in three major sub-sectors: rapeseed (***), sunflower and soybean.

The data in the map and table below, taken from a FranceAgriMer economic report dating from March ****, give us valuable information on the most productive French regions, all oilseeds combined.

In first place, we find the Centre-Val de Loire, which produced in **** ****.* thousand tons of oilseeds, followed by New Aquitaine (***).

The region with the highest yield in thousands of tons per hectare is Normandy with **.* thousands of tons per hectare in ****, closely followed by Île-de-France (***).

In terms of production areas for oilseed crops in France, the first region is occupied by New Aquitaine with ***.* hectares of crops, the second by the Centre-Val de Loire and its *** hectares, and the third by Occitania and its ***.* hectares.

3.2 The different production units

Several production steps are necessary for the production of oilseeds.

Oilseed production sites

France, ****

Source: ****

Translation : Trituration = crushing; Estérification = esterification; Raffinage et/ou conditionnement huiles végétales = Refinement and/or plant oils packaging; Prétraitement graisses animales, huiles usagées = Pre-treatment of animal fats, waste oils

It can be noticed that not all sites are intended for all phases of the production process.

The highest French production is for rapeseed, followed by sunflower and finally soybean. These production sites group together the three types of oilseeds without distinction.

4.1 Raw material prices

The oilseed market, being a raw material market, depends on the real time price of the inputs that make it up.

The graph below shows the evolution of the average price of all oilseeds combined, based on a **** base of ***. The variation is quite wide.

After having been rather stable for * years, the average price of oilseeds exploded in **** and was worth **.*% more than in ****.

Oilseed prices France, ****-****, base ****=*** Source: ****

Their variations are more or less similar and always ample, and the three prices have a significant point in common: their explosion in **** after five years of stability. Rapeseed has increased in **** by **.*% compared to ****, sunflower by **.*% and soybeans by *.*%.

This is explained by the sanitary crisis of Covid-**, which was spread over the whole year **** and greatly impacted the world prices of all commodities. In **** the sanitary situation is more stable than two years earlier, but other factors, especially geopolitical, continue to have a significant impact on world prices (***).

Retail oilseed prices by type France, ****-****, base ****=*** Source: ****

4.2 Product overview

Oilseeds are very rich in fat, which gives them a high oil content.

French rapeseed is type **. Their characteristic is the absence of erucic acid, and also low quantities of glucosinolates. The graph below shows the data on their composition: in a rapeseed, we find mostly fat (***).

Composition of rapeseed France, ****, in % Source: ****

chickens

rabbits

trout

birds

fat

protein

cellulose

water

minerals

Composition of sunflower seeds France, ****, in % Source: ****

digestion

fat

protein

water

minerals

cellulose

Composition of soybeans France, ****, in % Source: ****

4.3 Organic products, a French asset

The consumption of organically grown oilseeds is a trend that is becoming more and more important in the daily life of the French people. In order to meet this demand, their cultivation has increased considerably in recent years in France.

The graph below shows the area of organic oilseed cultivation in France in ****, and the following graph shows the area of non-organic oilseed cultivation in France in ****. France is quite successful in the organic cultivation of soybeans and sunflowers: it has **.* hectares of production for the first, and **.* hectares for the second.On the other hand, organic flax and rapeseed crops were a little less established in the French agricultural landscape in ****: France only had *.* hectares of productive land for the former, and *.* hectares for the latter.

In ****, the share of organic cultivation represents *.*% of the oilseed cultivation area in France.

This trend and this phenomenon represent a great opportunity for market players. Investing in organic, especially in protein cakes (***), means adapting to a growing trend [***].

Certified organic surface of oilseeds France, ****, in ha Source: ****

Surface of cultivated oilseeds France, ****, in ha Source: ****

5.1 French regulations

The marketing of oilseeds is carried out by collecting organizations declared to FranceAgriMer.

The laws that apply to the production and trade of oilseeds in France are those that make up Chapter VI of the French Rural and Maritime Fishing Code "Les céréales" (***).

These laws are easily consulted here and a summary is available below.

Article L***-* states that the marketing of cereals held by producers is carried out exclusively through the intermediary of natural or legal persons declared for this purpose and known as cereal collectors. It determines the conditions under which these persons carry out their activity, in particular the equipment they must possess, their accounting obligations and the information to be communicated to the administrative authority. Article L***-* provides that declared grain collectors may create bills of exchange endorsed by the establishment mentioned in Article L. ***-* and remitted to any credit institution. The establishment mentioned in the same article L. ***-* may require that the declared collectors first join a mutual guarantee company. Article L***-* provides that when the institution mentioned in article L. ***-* is called upon to pay in whole or in part in place of the debtor to whom ...

6.1 Segmentation

Avril *th French food group (***) active for ** years : producer

The farmers' associations are numerous, and their goal is to promote the development of their partners, strengthen their cohesion and innovation.

• Puget Lesieur (Avril Groupe)
• Lesieur (Avril Groupe)
• Oléoinnov