Ahead of the Agriculture and Fisheries (AGRIFISH) Council on September 28-29, the European Feed Manufacturers’ Federation (FEFAC) has written to the Irish EU Council Presidency chair for Agriculture, Minister Martin Heydon, calling for an urgent EU contingency plan to safeguard essential feed supplies to the EU livestock sector.
FEFAC members, representing EU compound feed and premix manufacturers, alerted the EU AGRIFISH Council that the combined exceptional effects of the severe summer drought, the disruption to Ukrainian feed-grain supplies through the Black Sea corridor and the approaching implementation of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) are threatening essential feed supply chains for fiber, energy and protein sources for the 2026-27 marketing year.
“The cumulative impact of these pressures significantly increases the risk of disruption of essential feed material supplies”, the letter states. FEFAC President Nicolas Coudry-Mesny warns that “shortages and higher costs could undermine the viability of EU dairy, pork and poultry production, add to food price inflation and increase reliance on imports of products of animal origin.”
FEFAC calls on the European Commission and Member States to set up a contingency plan before the end of 2026 in order to identify all available measures to mitigate the impacts of reduced home-grown feed-grain availability, address constraints on Black Sea supplies of feed grains (corn and oilseed meals) and reduce the sourcing complexities linked to EUDR implementation for essential feed ingredients, notably soybean meal and palm kernel expeller, which could lead to supply chain disruption and loss of market access to vital imports.
