EU: The discussion around grains and oilseeds for bio-energy is heating up
The discussion around grains and oilseeds for bio-energy is heating up. In the EU there are subsidies for bio-energy grains, mandatory usage quotas and taxes on bio-diesel and gasoline. The fast expansion of the bio-energy industries is leading a great, maybe exaggerated apprehension of cattle and pig farmers, millers and maltsters concerning the availability and the price structure of grains in the future. Already it is obvious that grain prices around the EUR 100,- level are a thing of the past, and that the EU intervention prices do not present a market tool any more. This crop years barley intervention totals 1.500 tons.