Page 65 - Biorefinery 2030 Future Prospects for the Bioeconomy (2015)

1 The Concept of Biorefinery 33

production unit for active cosmetics ingredients; the pilot factory for the
FUTUROL second generation biofuel project; and a public research centre named
Centre of Excellence for White Biotechnology (CEBB) operated by three academic
institutions.
Its principal owners are two major European cooperatives: VIVESCIA (whose
holding company is Siclae ´) and CRISTAL UNION (Cf. Box 2.1)

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Box 2.3 Presentation of VIVESCIA and CRISTAL UNION, 2013 Figures
VIVESCIA CRISTAL UNION
People • 11,443 members, 8500 of • 9300 farmer members in ten different
whom are active regions of France
• 3000 member breeders • 2200 employees on more than 10 sites
• 2500 farmer customers in France
• 8119 employees in
cooperatives and
agricultural subsidiaries
A leading • Largest cereal cooperative • 1.7 million tonnes of sugar produced
international in France, collecting 3.9 per year, together with nearly 190,000
group million tonnes tonnes of sugar beet pulp and alfalfa
• 270 collection silos pellets
• One million hectares of • Ten sugar factories and three major
agricultural land (SAU) a distilleries
• Active on 4 continents, in • 138,000 ha of sugar beet production,
25 countries, with nearly 40 % of French production
80 factories • Second largest French sugar producer
• World leader in the malt and fifth largest in Europe
sector • Partnership for sugar production in
• One of Europe’s leading Algeria and partnerships for sugar
milling and baking/pastry- marketing throughout Europe
making groups
• Second largest maize
processor in Europe
Financial • Turnover: 4.2 billion euros • Turnover: two billion euros
data
a
Surface Agricole Utile

It is the result of a unique development process (c.f. Box 2.2), which started in
1953 with the creation of the Bazancourt sugar factory. This founding event
involved a significant degree of risk on the part of the farmers, who put up their
farms as security and gave up a year’s harvest as the company’s capital.

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Summary of figures given on the companies’ websites http://www.vivescia.com/groupe-en-bref/
chiffres-cles and http://www.cristal-union.fr/le-groupe/chiffres-cles/