(Feedinfo News Service) - Which market drivers for Methionine demand are the least sensitive to unforeseen change?

(Giovanni Gasperoni) - As I previously mentioned, animal agriculture is a relatively small business, yet it caters for the world's population, which continues to grow. The role of animal protein production feeding the world is a huge topic for me, very close to my heart, and to my company's mission.

As the world's population increases its standard of living, more and more people are looking for animal protein, which will be produced in an affordable manner and in a sustainable way.

In this paper, we are trying to make the case for an industrialised, or a more efficient way, to produce in order to be more sustainable and make food affordable. This concerns not just Methionine; It is also relevant to lysine,  vitamins, minerals etc  it affects everybody in this business. If you have a more efficient way to grow the animal you have less waste, a better utilisation and efficiency of the raw materials at your disposal.

Income improvement, however, may be not so predictable in the long run.

We have been surprised by the recent recession to a degree. I was listening recently to a financial analyst who said that there are signs of recovery already. However, other analysts say the contrary. Whatever they say, this crisis is a long one.

"In the last 5 years we have more than 500 million people who shifted down one quintile. So that means a lot of people who, before had a certain purchasing power, do not have it any longer."      - Dr. Giovanni Gasperoni

So perhaps income, which is a very important driver, is going to cause more uncertainty in the long run, especially if you look at the last 3-5 years. In the last 5 years we have more than 500 million people who shifted down one quintile. So that means a lot of people who, before had a certain purchasing power, do not have it any longer. This is a driver for emigration in the world. If you think about it, it is related to income. People emigrate not because they do not like their countries but because they just want to survive and find social stability. And this goes back to making food affordable for the world. If you have food that is not affordable to everybody but only to a few, then you will see hunger-related riots of people just trying to feed their own families. An FAO report issued in March of this year stated that 2.5 billion people in the world are without running clean water. 2.5 billion of the entire global population of 6.3 billion. This is huge. If you do not have water what do you do? Our business is driven by water, energy and land. If you do not have these three, and the essential raw materials of course, our business cannot survive. Due to the lack of basic infrastructure in some parts of the world, people continue to starve and consequently migrate to find a better place.

(Feedinfo News Service) - It is anticipated that standards of living will improve steadily in the years to come. Does this mean that those populations will automatically spend more money on meat?

(Giovanni Gasperoni) - As their income grows, people start exercising their choices in terms of the kind of food they want to eat. However, most choice is pretty standard and depends on the taste of the meat or the preference of the population.

In the US we have no religious constraints related to meat, that is why you have the choice of chicken, pork and beef. Moving on to China, there are no problems religion-wise either and their preferred choice is pork over other foods.  So choice will continue to be driven by taste and purchasing power.

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