By Tina Caparella
Global Markets Continued from page 11
12 August 2021 Render www.rendermagazine.com
12 2021 Render and participate in health control actions, while contributing
to the use of animal by-products as a reliable supplier to the
oleochemical and animal feed production industries. Mexico
produces 36.5 million MT of feed per year—sixth largest in
the world— with animal feed production increasing more
than 4 percent in 2020 over the previous year.
There are 92 rendering plants in Mexico with registration
granted by the national animal health authority. Operations
are regulated by federal law on animal health, the
regulations of this law, and by the official Mexican Standard
NOM-060-ZOO-1999, “Animal health specifications for the
transformation of animal offal and its use in animal feed.”
The country’s rendering industry also meets the international
guidelines contained in the Terrestrial Animal Health Code of
the World Organization for Animal Health, which has allowed
Mexico to be classified as negligible risk status for BSE.
As a mixture of agri-food industries, Mexico’s economy has
shown that resilience is necessary to overcome the challenges
of the global COVID-19 pandemic. National agriculture and
fisheries production for 2021 is predicted to be 3.6 percent
higher than 2020. By subsector, forecasts for this year are all
positive, with agriculture up 3.8 percent, livestock 2 percent
higher, and aquaculture growing by 1.3 percent. Meat
production in 2021 is expected to overall be 2.4 percent more
than last year, with specific sector growth as follows: bovine,
2.3 percent; pork, 4.2 percent; poultry, 2.1 percent; sheep, 3.8
percent; goat, 5.7 percent; and turkey, 5.4 percent.
Mexico’s beef trade balance continues to be a surplus,
with exports increasing 9.7 percent while imports dropped
15 percent. Beef ended 2020 with a growth of 2.6 percent in
production amidst the same consumption as 2019. Livestock
inventory shows more than 32 million head of beef-producing
cattle, 18 million pigs, 160 million laying birds, and 1.5 million
broiler chickens produced per year in 120 federally inspected
type plants, 154 private sector plants, and 904 municipal
slaughterhouses.
Fernando Mendizábal Acebo, president of Mexico’s
renderers association, said it is essential to continue
strengthening the association as well as the synergy of
the rendering industry with Mexican government entities,
Mexican feed producers, and international organizations
related to this activity. R
and consumers may not accept use of non-ruminant PAP
immediately. In order to help prepare the market for this,
EFPRA has issued white papers explaining the nutritional
benefits of using PAPs.
This move comes in addition to other recent changes to
EU legislation that makes it easier to export organic fertilizers
and soil improvers containing category 2 PAP, and that allow
limited quantities of tallow to go to the United Kingdom for
combustion. These are just the latest examples of a decades-long
strategy of gradual easing of restrictions on the use of
rendered products in Europe when the scientific evidence
allows it, and under strict conditions, following a continual
decline in numbers of bovine spongiform encephalopathy
(BSE) cases to nearly zero.
In other news, the EU is busy updating its renewable
energy policy in order to meet the higher climate change
targets it has set—greenhouse gas emissions reductions of 55
percent compared to 1990, and climate neutrality by 2050. All
aspects are being reviewed in a package of measures entitled
“Fit for 55.” The future of renewable transport fuel targets,
covered by the EU Renewable Energy Directives, is uncertain
as are the incentives currently enjoyed by used cooking oil
(UCO) and animal fats as biofuel feedstocks. This could affect
future exports of United States (US) and Canadian rendered
products and UCO. All is still “up for grabs,” however, given
the EU’s tortuous decision-making processes.
On the topic of trade, better relations have been restored
with the United States over recent months. This has been
an EU aim for several years and the first steps have begun.
On June 15, EU and US leaders met and agreed on several
measures. These include an agreement to suspend the
application of retaliatory tariffs stemming from World Trade
Organization disputes over government subsidies to aircraft
manufacturers Airbus and Boeing. There is hope this spirit
can be replicated in more technical discussions, perhaps
involving rendered products.
Mexico Experiencing Growth
Mexico’s rendering industry annually produces
approximately 300,000 MT of proteins and fats of bovine
origin. The primary objective for rendering in Mexico is to be
an essential activity in the value chain of the livestock industry
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