Market developments and policy evaluation aspects of the plant protein sector in the EU

This document is a European Commission report produced in November 2018.

An evaluation study of the CAP measures applicable to the EU market for plant proteins

1.1 Objectives and scope of the study
This report concerns an evaluation study of the CAP measures applicable to the EU market in plant
proteins, including competitiveness effects of CAP measures applied to plant proteins.

It focuses on analysing market aspects relating to the protein-rich plants in the EU and assesses in this context the coherence and relevance of the CAP measures applicable to the EU market for plant proteins.

The productions studied in both parts of this report are:
- Pulses: field beans, field peas, lupines and other dry pulses (chickpeas, lentils and dry beans1),
- By-products (e.g. meals) of the following oil seeds: rapeseed, sunflower, soya bean and linseed,
- Forage legumes: mainly alfalfa, clover, and sainfoin.

For all of them, their uses as feed and food (when applicable) are covered as well as their main market segments including organic and GM-free uses.
For the market aspects, the main factors influencing the EU plant protein market are analysed and include:
- the supply and demand situation for plant proteins in the EU (present and outlook);
- the various sources of plant protein supply (directly from crops like pulses and forages
and indirectly from by-products, like meals from oilseed crushing);
- the different possible uses of each plant protein type (for food, feed and other uses), and their market segments;
- the main drivers of the competitiveness of plant proteins in the EU, including EU produced and imported materials and specific drivers related to significant premium markets.

With respect to the evaluation aspects developed in this report, the main CAP measures studied are:
- two measures under the greening part of the Direct Payments regulation2, namely diversification (DIV) and Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs)
- the Voluntary Coupled Payment Schemes (VCS)3.

When relevant, other measures are taken into account, such as Rural Development measures (E.g. agri-environmental measures), Horizontal regulations, etc. It must be noted that the evaluation part of this study is not a full-fledged evaluation as it only covers causal analysis and coherence.

The examination covers the period following the implementation of the 2013 CAP reform.

Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2018
Catalogue Number: KF-03-18-447-EN-N
ISBN 978-92-79-97237-9
DOI: 10.2762/022741
© European Union, 2018
Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.