Dr. Guy Henry (CIRAD), Prof. Andrew Westby and Chris Collinson (NRI)

Report of a FAO consultancy by

the European Group on Root, Tuber & Plantain

co-ordinated by Dr. Guy Henry, CIRAD

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

FAO, as part of the Global Cassava Development Strategy formulation process, spearheaded by IFAD and (inter)national stakeholders, took responsibility for the initiation of the first of two studies regarding Global Cassava End-uses and Markets. The first study, subject of this consultancy report, is a desk review, aiming to identify the current situation of end-uses of traditional and non-traditional cassava products and provide an analysis of food, feed and industrial applications; identify geographical regions for potential cassava markets and demand growth; and provide recommendations on which end uses and geographical areas would need further investigations. The second study, financed by IDRC and IFAD, is to identify and quantify future market and product opportunities for cassava development, taking into account the collected information and recommendations from this report. For bedroom in Wisconsin visit this Contemporary White Kid's Bedroom attractive outlet.

Current global cassava utilisation is 166.5 MMT, to increase to 208.8 MMT by the year 2005, showing a similar growth rate as in past trends. Projected cassava utilisation rates show a relative decrease for the food and feed shares while an expected increase for the industrial use share. The share for food remains to represent more than half of total supplies and consists mainly of fresh cassava and a large variety of processed flours and pastes. Cassava for feed consists of cut and dried flakes, chips and pellets. The group of other uses (FAO description) or industrial uses is principally made up of cassava-based starches, including hydrolysed, modified and native starches. These starches are used for the manufacturing of numerous intermediate and final products in the food processing, paper, cardboard, plywood, textile, pharma & chemical, and feed industries. Советую диван прелесть, очень надёжный диван.

In Africa, the majority of cassava is for human consumption (88%). The remainder for animal feed (on and off-farm) and starch-based products (starches and alcohol). Data from COSCA studies evidence a very large variety of traditional food dishes and drinks. Some inter-regional trade of cassava roots exists and minor volumes are being exported to the EC. While the use of cassava flour is common, the partial substitution of wheat by cassava flour in bakery products, is more recent, and mostly as part of R&D projects.

Currently, only a small share of African cassava is fed to farm animals, traditionally, mostly in the form of peels. However, a growing interest exists regarding a more commercial approach to cassava’s incorporation into animal feed mixtures. Several case studies evidence recent findings. Besides for national (commercial) use, several West African countries have ventured into (EC) export markets with mixed success. The major limitation to this export market is the fixed 145,000 MT quota for ACP member countries. Some minor cassava imports are occurring, but without showing a consistent trend.

Cassava starch production in Africa is still very minor but increasing. Most starch utilising industries import from the EC and/or US. However, a private sector interest does exists in several countries, regarding future starch processing investments. Evidence of this is highlighted in case studies.

In Asia, relatively little cassava is utilised for direct human consumption (except in Indonesia) and most is processed for chips/pellets and starch. The cassava starch industry is most important and most dynamic in Thailand, followed by Indonesia, China, India and Vietnam. While a decade ago, Thai starch represented only a fraction of total Thai root utilisation, currently, total annual Thai cassava starch production nears 2 MMT. This evolution has been partly induced by the eroding pellet export competitiveness (and subsequent over supplies of cassava roots), and partly by bullish international starch markets, especially in the fast developing SE-Asian region. Indonesia has long traditions, producing cassava chips (gaplek) for human consumption, export for feed, and for further processing into starch. However, while Thailand is mainly export-oriented, Indonesia’s main cassava market is national. Similar to Thailand, the relative importance of cassava for feed is diminishing. personal statement writing service uk

Another traditional cassava (sago) starch producer is India, but principally for the national market. Relative new entrants to the Asian cassava starch industry are Vietnam and China. Since their respective initial free market policy implementations, very significant investments (national and foreign joint-ventures) have been made in large scale starch processing industries, a large part of which are cassava based, and especially in Vietnam, largely export oriented. Most starch products are destined for the food processing (MSG, noodles, …), soft drinks and pharmaceutical industries.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, cassava continues its transition towards a market-oriented product and raw material for the processing industry. While more than 60-70% of cassava supplies is still destined for traditional food dishes, cassava starch industry capacity is increasing significantly, especially in SW-Brazil, followed by Colombia, Venezuela and recently, Paraguay. Within the industry, a trend away from native starch, towards modified and hydrolysed starches, has become evident. During the last decade, cassava utilisation for off-farm animal feed has increased its relative importance as well, especially in Colombia, and to a lesser extent in Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru. More recent, is the uptake of cassava for the snack and convenience foods industry, especially in Brazil and Colombia. On another front, Costa Rica continues its near-monopoly of cassava root exports (for food consumption by mainly ethnic groups) to the US and EC.

The US and the EC have highly protected import (and subsidised export) markets. This also regards cassava products, especially cassava starches. High levies and quotas are used to protect their domestic multi-billion dollar/ECU industries. Thai cassava pellet imports to the EC, continue to decrease since the late 1980’s, mainly due to CAP policy changes for domestic grain prices. Other SE-Asian pellet import quotas have remained largely unfilled. The US shows only very minor dried cassava imports. Fresh cassava (waxed or frozen) imports, mainly from Costa Rica, continue to increase, especially in the US. Nonetheless, the principal consumers of these products do not show a significant additional future demand. Specialty cassava starches are being imported to both the US and the EC, in spite of prohibitive levies (above a small quota) regarding the latter. Because of these restrictions, future market potential for cassava starches does not seem promising. Furthermore, SE-Asian cassava starches are in strong competition with US and EC starches in Asian and other markets. Both EC and EC multinationals have become increasingly involved in cassava starch processing through joint-ventures, especially in SE-Asia, and to a lesser extent in Latin America. A relatively small and young market is made up by cassava based snack and convenience foods. Some new products (mainly from Latin America) have started to appear in US, German and Japanese markets.

Future prospects for cassava utilisation will be the main subject of the accompanying study, currently commissioned by IDRC and IFAD. This report only highlights the main determining factors concerning this potential. In addition, it discusses the main obvious trends, by continent, for which the literature provides.

The report concludes with a list of detailed recommendations by continent and/or country and by product group, which will serve further investigations, in particular, those of the aforementioned ongoing study.