Jean-Philippe PUIG, CEO of the Avril Group and Jean-Louis CHAUSSADE, CEO of SUEZ, have announced an alliance to produce and market organic fertilisers and soil conditioners for fertilisation and soil structuring.
In this context and subject to the approval of the competition authorities, SUEZ will acquire a 32% stake in the share capital of the Avril Group subsidiary TERRIAL bringing its compost activities, which could subsequently be increased to 50%.
This partnership faces to the growing challenge of sustainably producing and using food resources, while limiting chemical and artificial inputs. New means of recovering organic waste are being developed to supplement the potential provided by existing methanation and composting solutions.
The aim of this joint venture, which will be operational in the first half of 2019, is to provide an extended range of quality fertiliser products throughout France, mainly for agriculture and organic farming, wine-growing, market gardening and garden centres in particular. Within five years, the alliance should enable TERRIAL to supply almost one million tonnes of organic fertilisers on the French market.
According to Jean-Louis Chaussade, CEO of SUEZ: “Faced with the constant growth of the world’s population, farmers are facing two challenges: improving crops’ productivity and profitability, while preserving resources. SUEZ has been innovating in favour of a sustainable agriculture for years. Thanks to SUEZ and Avril’s know-how and expertise, a complete range of organic fertilisers and soil conditioners will be provided. This joint venture illustrates how innovation in favour of the circular economy is our priority, by returning organic matter to the soil and preserving resources.”
Jean-Philippe PUIG, CEO of the Avril Group stated: “TERRIAL has grown strongly in recent years, in particular due to changing farming practices and the strong demand from consumers of organic products. Welcoming SUEZ as TERRIAL’s will enable the company to continue to develop innovative fertiliser product ranges while meeting societal and environmental expectations, and enabling French farmers to capture this new demand and to limit the use of artificial inputs.”
The TERRIAL joint venture will benefit from reinforced and shared fertilizer production facilities in Chançay and Beaupréau-en-Mauges (both in France), as well as from inputs of new organic materials from farms and by around SUEZ’s sixty composting plants, thus guaranteeing local production of soil conditioners and fertilisers for the French market.
TERRIAL will present its new product range by the summer of 2019.
As a specialist in the fertilisation and the recovery of organic co-products, TERRIAL recovers livestock effluents and organic residue from industrial activities as fertilisers, compost or methane to produce soil conditioners and renewable energy. In 2017, TERRIAL generated a turnover of €30 million, recovered 100,000 tonnes of industrial waste by methanation and 280,000 tonnes of organic fertilisers from French livestock farms.
Jean-Louis Chaussade, Directeur Général de SUEZ et Jean-Philippe Puig, Directeur Général du Groupe Avril
About the AVRIL Group
Set up in 1983 at the initiative of French farmers in order to assure long-term markets for French agricultural products, Avril is the industrial and finance actor of the oilseeds and proteins sectors. It is present in France and internationally in sectors as diverse as human foods, animal feeds and expertise, renewable energies and chemistry, and owns a portfolio of strong brands that are leaders in their markets: Diester, Oleo100, Sanders, Lesieur, Puget, Costa d’Oro, Matines, Bunica, Taous, etc. In 35 years, the Group has changed in size but its purpose has remained the same: to create sustainable value in the vegetable oils and proteins sector while contributing to better foods for humans and preservation of the planet. To fulfil its mission, Avril draws strength from its industrial activities organized around plant production and livestock sectors, and from its financial arm which operates through Sofiprotéol, its finance and development company.In 2017, the Avril Group achieved turnover worth €6.2 billion. It counts 7,600 employees working in 21 countries. For more information: www.groupeavril.com | Twitter: @Avril
About SUEZ
With 90 000 people on the five continents, SUEZ is a world leader in smart and sustainable resource management. We provide water and waste management solutions that enable cities and industries optimize their resource management and strengthen their environmental and economic performances, in line with regulatory standards. To meet increasing demands to overcome resource quality and scarcity challenges, SUEZ is fully engaged in the resource revolution. With the full potential of digital technologies and innovative solutions, the Group recovers 17 million tons of waste a year, produces 3.9 million tons of secondary raw materials and 7 TWh of local renewable energy. It also secures water resources, delivering wastewater treatment services to 58 million people and reusing 882 million m3 of wastewater. SUEZ generated total revenues of 15.9 billion euros in 2017.