The animal feed employer supports buying corn in the US and Argentina

The Spanish Confederation of Manufacturers of Compound Food for Animals (Cesfac) has supported the proposal to buy cereals, especially corn, in other markets such as the United States and Argentina in a context marked by the war in Ukraine, the main supplier of corn and sunflower oil .

According to their data, there are currently 13.6 million tons of corn available and unsold in the United States, 7.5 million tons of corn in Argentina, and 100,000 tons of sunflower seed and 400,000 tons of sunflower cake also in Argentina.

In addition, from the end of March, another 15.4 million tons of Argentine new crop corn will be available.

“These amounts would serve to more than cover the needs of the Spanish production of compound feed for animals until the campaign link, and a good part of the European demand,” said the employers’ association of manufacturers of compound feed for animals.

Likewise, it has indicated that for technical-regulatory reasons, not linked to quality or food safety issues, the export to the European Union of said quantities was not expected.

Cesfac has explained that the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food took these and other requests of theirs to the Extraordinary Council of European Agriculture Ministers meeting in Brussels on March 2.

“To our disappointment, in Brussels the study and subsequent decision-making on these measures was sent to another meeting on March 21,” said the employers, who have assured that they have not stopped demanding “the making of a brave decision , protected by community law but having immediate effects.

“The alternative was to adjust the livestock population downwards to the real capacity of food production if we do not have those alternative origins to the Ukrainian supply that, in any case and due to damages in the supply chain, cannot be reestablished in the medium term. », highlighted Cesfac, which is in contact with organizations and producers in the countries of origin to accelerate this export flow.

Self-supply?

The president of Asaja Extremadura, Ángel García Blanco, declared yesterday that he believes that the war in Ukraine will force the European Union to make the decision that fallow land be planted with protein crops, such as soybeans or sunflowers, to avoid shortages , because the country invaded by Russia is the main exporter of these products.

In the same way, García Blanco considered that the war is going to affect farmers from Extremadura in two aspects. On the one hand, the cost of inputs such as diesel and, on the other, the lack of products such as corn or sunflower oil, which will also make these products more expensive.