DSM sets up new animal nutrition and health unit as it streamlines business

By Jane Byrne

- Last updated on GMT

© GettyImages/Richard Drury
© GettyImages/Richard Drury

Related tags greenhouse gas emissions ammonia Phosphorus Methane Dsm

DSM is transforming its business, creating a separate animal nutrition and health division, as part of that the process, and it is also starting a review of strategic options for its materials unit, including a possible change of ownership.

The Dutch company has established three distinct business groups. DSM will begin reporting according to this new structure from January 2022.

With more than €3bn in existing sales, the company said its animal nutrition and health business will focus on products for “a radical, yet achievable, transformation in the sustainability of animal protein production.”

The unit incorporates products such as vitamins and carotenoids, the recently purchased asset, the Erber Group, a global supplier of eubiotics and a mycotoxin risk management expert, as well as the methane inhibitor, Bovaer. The unit also includes data-driven decision-making tools for famers like Sustell, and for veterinarians and animal health practitioners like Verax.

Another unit, the food and beverage group, with current sales of around €1bn, will focus on the food industry, including sweeteners, alternative protein, and dairy flavorings from newly acquired First Choice Ingredients, pending regulatory approval.

The health, nutrition and care unit, with current sales of €2.5bn, will concentrate on specialty foods, including infant formula, dietary supplements and medical foods. 

“By focusing exclusively on our health, nutrition and bioscience activities we will be able to operate with greater agility and impact and meet the growing need for better and more sustainable nutrition,”​ the company’s joint chief executives Geraldine Matchett and Dimitri de Vreeze commented today.

As part of its ongoing strategy to refocus the business, DSM sold its resins and functional materials arm to German company, Covstro, in September 2020, in a deal worth €1.6bn.

Sustainable production pledge

Today also saw DSM announce a series of specific new commitments; it wants to scale up plant-based alternatives and promote more sustainable production of key animal proteins such as dairy, fish, meat, and eggs.

It has pledged to enable double-digit on-farm reduction of livestock emissions by 2030, including:

  • a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in dairy production
  • a 30% reduction in ammonia emissions from swine farming
  • a 30% reduction in phosphorus emissions from poultry farming

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