After our post of December 2015 on European quinoa consumption, we received an email from Mr Jason Abbott of AbbottAgra specifying the contribution of quinoa produced in Europe to the figures of apparent consumption. Based on this, we revised our preliminary figure for apparent consumption for the Year Ending October 2015 to 20362 tons.
Mr Abbott explained that virtually all quinoa produced in 2015 enters the market in 2016 and beyond. The first reason is that the EU harvest ends in October; after cleaning in November, the earliest deliveries to customers are made in December. Additionally, not all European quinoa was intended to be consumed within 12 months. Part of the quinoa is kept to ensure deliveries to buyers with long-term agreement. Moreover, with the Peruvian quinoa currently being sold at record low prices, the market has also become less accommodating for European quinoa.
According to Mr Abbott, the contribution of European farmers to consumption in Europe has been 1000 tons in 2014, 2000 tons in 2015 and may reach 3000 tons in 2016. Stock levels are increasing, since in 2015 production reached 7000 tons.
AbbottAgra is the pioneer of European quinoa production. Using seeds developed by Plant Research International of Wageningen University and Research Centre, the company has successfully introduced quinoa in France, Spain, the Netherlands and other European countries. Mr Abbott stated that he is keen to grow the European production in a controlled manner, trying to avoid flooding the market with excess production. However, as the developments go, in 2015 abundant production was available from all origins, which led to a sharp drop in prices.
