DDGS to replace soy and rapeseed in Europe

Traditional protein sources for animal feed such as soy and rapeseed in the future will increasingly be replaced by wheat and corn distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS).

This is the opinion of Jan Verhoeven, commercial manager at Duynie, market leader in moist animal feeds in the Netherlands. DDGS are by-products of the production of bio-ethanol.

"The yeast concentrates are very palatable replacements of soy and rapeseed products, which also lower the cost price of the ration," said Verhoeven. The sale of wheat DDGS has increased considerably the last few years. "The supply of wheat and corn DDGS will further increase in 2010," he said.

This year several large bio-ethanol plants in Europe will start operating. In Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Spanish Abengoa Bioenergia has built a new plant which can produce 480,000 tonnes of bio-ethanol in a year.

To further develop the market supplies, producers can place silos at farms to store the products, where feed mixes are supplied. In the pig sector, mixes of DDGS and steamed potato peals with high energy and protein content are available.

The by-product of the ethanol industry is a substitute that can be used on farms. "At the moment, we see that liquid feeds such as Sastapro, Protisyr and Protiwanze are very economically priced at EUR0.95-EUR1.40/%DM (US$1.2-1.8) due to a large supply and limited storage capacity,'' Verhoeven said. Dry raw materials such as rapeseed cake are however, more costly at about EUR19/100 kg (US$24), which will reflect the prices of DDGS, he said.