French grain producers, via the associations representing their sectors (AGPB, AGPM and Coop de France-Métiers du Grain), have always aimed at organising their market outlets rather than letting production be ruled by market contingencies.  For this was how they became founding partners in the bioethanol industry which accounts for 2.3% of grain harvested in France and is helping to reduce the country’s energy dependency and greenhouse gas emissions.

This was a strategic choice which, with hindsight, has proven to be very timely with the substantial dismantling of regulatory mechanisms on the grain market in 2010 (under the CAP Health Check), making the control that the grain sector has over its outlets even more crucial.
 
In this situation, the viability of the bioethanol industry must be safeguarded.  This means improving the operating bases in the face of the unprecedented volatility seen on markets over the last two years, and not only grain markets and the oil market, but also with bioethanol imports.  The price of grain feedstock for bioethanol production must not penalise farmers, nor, conversely, the industrialists and their production plants.
 
Inter-branch cooperation on the matter has been initiated, looking at contract-based mechanisms designed to contain any fluctuations in purchase prices, either upward or downward in relation to market prices.
 
This joint initiative by AGPB, AGPM and Coop de France-Métiers du Grain, sees the organisations carrying out the responsibilities vested in them by their farmers.
 
Contact : Pascal HURBAULT -  01 44 31 16 25