Evonik discusses DL-methionine and offers procurement managers tips for ensuring a consistent supply
Supply chain disruptions and other factors have caused volatility in the methionine market, shortening supplies and rising prices.
Evonik‘s senior sales manager Michael Christians joined the chat to discuss recent developments in the U.S. methionine sector.
TRANSCRIPT: Feed Strategy Chat with Michael Christians, Evonik senior sales manager
Jackie Roembke, editor, Feed Strategy: Hello everyone and welcome to Feed Strategy Chat. I am your host, Jackie Roembke, editor of Feed Strategy magazine.
This edition of Feed Strategy Chat is brought to you by Evonik.
Today’s livestock producers are under pressure to boost performance. That means getting the most return from animals and achieving the highest level of productivity at the lowest possible cost. This can be achieved only if the methionine source used is correctly supplemented.
Evonik Animal Nutrition is a highly reliable, globally operating provider of science-driven products and services for sustainable and efficient production of meat, fish, eggs and milk. MetAMINO from Evonik ensures the adequate supply of sulfur amino acids, particularly the essential methionine.
Not just better, but the best results with MetAMINO from Evonik.
Today we are joined on Zoom by Michael Christians, Evonik senior sales manager, to discuss the latest developments in the methionine market.
Michael Christians, Evonik senior sales manager: I’m doing well today.
Roembke: Excellent. Great. Well, thanks for joining us. So we know that methionine has been in the news this year. Can you provide an update about the methionine sources available?
Christians: Methionine sources that are available in the world today are DL-methionine, methionine hydroxy analogue (MHA) and L-methionine. Evonik’s product MetAMINO is our DL-methionine — MetAMINO is the proprietary name for our DL-methionine source, which is manufactured here in the United States. The methionine is manufactured throughout numerous countries and in the world today.
Roembke: Can you briefly talk about recent developments in the U.S. methionine market?
Christians: There’s been a lot of developments in the methionine market over the past past few months or past couple years. First that went into effect was the through what was known as the 301 tariffs, which was a 25% tariff put against the Chinese material being imported into the United States. We just recently received notification of a preliminary ruling that an anti-dumping case that had been brought here in the United States, we’re expecting the final ruling on or about June 1, and that will determine what the final penalties and the length of those penalties will be.
The other thing is we’ve been followed by very strong demand worldwide for methionine and then we had some the industry as a whole had some supply chain breakdowns. Evonik being a manufacturer here in the United States has been able to honor all its contracts and we anticipate doing that in the long term also.
Roembke: Tell me a little bit about how procurement managers can mitigate supply chain risks during times when assigning supplies are tight.
Christians: Well, part of what procurement managers can do is put the right value on their product. At Evonik, we believe and we have the data to back it up that our product, we only require 65% as much DL-methionine as MHA in a diet to to obtain equal performance.
The other thing procurement managers can do is assist their nutritionists and their companies in reducing safety margin in the product. In other words, don’t overfeed the product at this time.
And another thing to remember is sticking with with dependable manufacturers to reduce your risk of supply chain interruptions because with all the shipping issues and so forth we’ve had lately, sometimes your product is still sitting on the water and being able to get a consistent long-term, dependable supply.
Roembke: Excellent. Well, thank you so much for your insight. For more information, make sure to visit MetAMINO.com. Thank you, Michael, and thanks to the audience for tuning in.