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A sector united in a pioneering model
Text transcript
Since its creation 40 years ago, Avril’s mission has remained unchanged and very modern: to feed people and animals and to preserve the planet. A mission that has been fulfilled over four decades thanks to a unique model of integrated industry, from upstream to downstream, that is constantly evolving to meet the challenges of our society, always with the primary objective of creating value.
The Avril model was born of the mobilization of oilseed producers and their professional organizations, who initiated an unprecedented approach in the early 1980s: contributing together to an independent investment fund, Sofiprotéol in order to take their destiny in hand. This unique collaborative model gave birth to an integrated industry, from seed research to finished products, including all stages of production and processing. The Group’s commitment to the development of biofuels, plant chemistry and plant-based protein for human consumption is evidence of this. Today, this model is being successfully deployed both nationally and internationally, with the mission of feeding people and animals and preserving the planet.
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What makes Avril a resilient and promising model is above all the pursuit of an economic development objective for the sectors with a strategic vision shared with the professional organizations representing the producers. This model, which remains firmly rooted in our territory, is unique. Flexible and value-creating, it also supports our international development and participates in the overall structuring and dynamics of our sectors and their markets.
Xavier Dorchies
Chief Operating Officer Sofiprotéol, Group Strategy and Development Director
A model that is developing internationally
Starting in 2008, the model is being exported. The acquisition of Oleon in Belgium, creates a European leader in plant-based chemistry. This was followed by the acquisition of Expur in Romania, followed by new positions in Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, which structured the Group on the European market. The aim of this international presence is to meet the needs of customers, with a view to optimizing the supply chain. The installation of Oleon in Texas in 2022 reflects this desire to bring industrial sites closer to key markets. In addition, Avril’s original model, which promotes protein sovereignty supported by the agricultural world and served by efficient industrial and commercial infrastructures, meets crucial challenges in certain countries, particularly on the African continent.
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Avril has an industrial presence in the Maghreb and in sub-Saharan Africa, and is now developing commercially in practically all of Africa. This presence is protean and linked to our expertise: it concerns both consumer products and animal nutrition. For the years to come, Avril intends to continue to contribute to the consolidation of the sector in these countries, by offering sustainable outlets to farmers and efficient solutions to breeders. All of this, in the service of local food sovereignty.
Stéphane Yrlès
General Secretary, Avril
Pioneers of biofuels
The biofuel adventure began at the end of the 1980s: the oilseed sector was caught up in the uncertainty of international trade and was suffering from limited production for food. To support upstream agriculture with new outlets, the Group decided to create an alternative sector and to develop the biofuels market. In 1995 Sofiprotéol inaugurated the Diester® plant in Grand-Couronne. With a production capacity of 120,000 tons, it is the largest biodiesel plant in the world. Between 1995 and 2000, Diester® production increased, reaching more than 200,000 tons in 2000. This initiative paved the way for the biofuels market as we know it today.
Reducing the transport sector’s dependence on fossil fuels has become an absolute priority. French agriculture is one of the solutions which contribute to a decarbonized aviation. This is the case for intermediate crops sown by farmers between two main crops for their agronomic benefits: they cover the soil, capture nitrates and create synergies with other crops. The challenge is therefore to create a sustainable economic framework that encourages farmers to plant them. By developing intermediate oilseed crops with short vegetative cycles, and then transforming the seeds into oil in its crushing and refining facilities in the region, the sector intends to contribute to the objectives of incorporation into jet fuel. It is in this context that Saipol has announced a €60 million investment in its Sète site, which will process carinata seeds, an intermediate crop, for a volume equivalent to 250,000 tons of oil per year by 2030.
Pioneers in plant-based protein
For Avril, the subject of plant protein was initially part of a logic of feeding livestock, following the shortage of American soybeans, which put French livestock farmers at risk of becoming dependent on imported soybean meal. The structuring and development of the rapeseed sector in France, capable of producing high quality oilcake, has since contributed to greater food sovereignty for French livestock farms, allowing them to feed their animals while preserving the planet. In 1998, Sofiprotéol’s acquisition of a stake in Sanders, the French livestock feed specialist, reinforced its development in this sector. Optimizing nutritional performance is now at the heart of our approach, in particular through the development of protein-enriched oilcake.
Avril is also anticipating the challenges of world population growth and its consequences in terms of oil and plant-based protein requirements. One thing is clear: once the oil has been extracted from rapeseed or sunflower seed, the by-product is very rich in protein, but is not widely used or marketed. In 2020, Avril and the Dutch industrialist DSM joined forces to build a European venture to industrialize the extraction of rapeseed protein for human consumption in Dieppe (76). The plant went into production in 2022; DSM is now marketing ingredients for human food. A world first.
Key Figures
+ 22 % Sales of plant-based foods in Europe have increased by 22% since 2020 to reach 5.7 billion euros.
Pioneer in bio-based ingredients
In the early 2000s, Sofiprotéol, in line with its mission to identify and create new outlets for French oilseed production, made renewable chemistry one of its strategic priorities. The objective is to offer its customers innovative and efficient solutions based on renewable raw materials in various sectors, from lubricants to cosmetics. With the acquisition of Oleon in 2008, the Group adds a production capacity of 500,000 tons. In 2022, Oleon set up its first plant in the United States, in Texas.
In 2016, Avril invested in Evertree a start-up that replaces petrochemical-based glues with high-performance adhesive solutions for wood panels made from rapeseed and sunflower cakes. Today, Evertree is accelerating the transformation of the furniture and interior design industry with natural low-carbon solutions. For example, with Seripanneaux, Evertree is developing PANTair the first 100% French bio-sourced particleboard.
