FCAVA Potato Starch Cooperative to Join Tereos’ Cooperative Union

23 Sep 2014 --- Tereos and the Vic sur Aisne agricultural potato starch cooperative (FCAVA) are announcing that FCAVA is joining Tereos’ cooperative union. By moving closer together in this way, the aim is to further strengthen the cooperative branch of the French starch potato sector in a European market that has become more open and volatile since the end of the starch quotas in 2012.

This operation will make it possible to double the level of industrial activity at the Haussimont facility in the Marne region, which will now process the produce grown by the cooperative members from both FCAVA and the Haussimont potato starch cooperative.

Located in France's Aisne region, FCAVA, created in 1938, is an agricultural cooperative specialized in the collection of starch potatoes sourced from an area covering the Aisne, Oise, Seine et Marne, Somme, Marne and Ardennes regions. It groups together 216 members who produce nearly 200,000 tons of starch potatoes. Following this operation, the Tereos cooperative group, the market leader for sugar beet and cereal processing, will make up 40% of French starch potato production, further strengthening its positions in relation to its European competitors.

The project to join the Group has been approved by Tereos’ Supervisory Board and FCAVA’s Board of Directors. As a result, FCAVA is joining the nine cooperatives that make up the Tereos Group. FCAVA’s members will become Tereos Group cooperative growers and will benefit from any price supplements and dividends paid out by the cooperative group, in addition to the prices for purchasing potatoes. Geoffroy d’Evry, FCAVA's current chairman, will become a member of Tereos' Supervisory Board, which is chaired by Thierry Lecomte.

FCAVA is joining Tereos following the Haussimont potato starch cooperative, which became part of the Tereos Group in March 2014. Indeed, in spring this year, the Marne-based cooperative’s 270 members joined Tereos, committing to a dynamic process to further strengthen the French starch cooperative sector in a market in which quotas have been eliminated since 2012. The plan to develop growing areas, launched when this cooperative joined the Group, has been a success: a further 150 hectares have been planted in 2014, while the increase in the growing areas could reach 400 hectares by 2015. Agricultural and industrial synergies driving better remuneration for French growers With FCAVA joining the Group, this will also further strengthen agricultural and industrial synergies.

Indeed, Tereos has a strong agronomy department in place at central level, as well as agricultural departments in its facilities, providing advice and support for their cooperative growers at every stage in their production. The Haussimont potato starch unit in the Marne region will see its campaign length double, an essential factor for competing effectively and offering better remuneration for the starch cooperative growers' produce. The investments made by Tereos at the Marne-based industrial site will also make it possible to develop new outlets for export food markets.

As Geoffroy d’Evry confirms: “In a market that is now free from quotas, we believed it was important to further strengthen cooperative synergies for potato starch. We have chosen to join forces with the Tereos cooperative group, with its recognized know-how and the diversification of its positions offering outstanding prospects for the future for our cooperative starch potato growers. Thanks to this operation to join forces, FCAVA’s cooperative members will once again have access to industrial processing, following on from their agricultural activity”.

“With the Vic sur Aisne cooperative joining Tereos, this will further strengthen the dynamic process for integration between the upstream agricultural sector and industrial processing within the French cooperative sector. It will consolidate the French potato starch cooperative branch, in addition to providing long-term visibility for growers from both FCAVA and the Haussimont potato starch cooperative, who are now all cooperative members of Tereos. It will also open up outstanding prospects from an industrial perspective with the doubling of activity levels at Haussimont”, explains Alexis Duval, Tereos' Chief Executive Officer.