- What people want is traditional cereals, porridge products, oat-based drinks have become very popular, yogurt and cream. This is a huge development here, says Mats Liedholm, CEO of Fazer Sweden, who, like other food companies, made several major investments in oats.
However, grain grower Henrik Wallenberg has not noticed the trend in his business.
- No, not as a grower. But I have read that there is a growing interest among consumers and traders for oats.
"Oat price must increase"On the cultivation side, the trend is thus in the opposite direction - oat cultivation has been declining for a long time. The explanation is that the demand for oats as animal feed is decreasing. And the price the farmer receives for grain oats, that is, the oats that are of sufficient quality to become food, is significantly lower than the price of the competitor's wheat.
- If you want more oats, the price must increase. You have to understand as a consumer and a trader that it is more expensive for us farmers to produce a kilo of oats compared to a kilo of wheat, says Henrik Wallenberg.
The market is controlling, says Mats Liedholm at Fazer.
- We have no opportunity to go in and pay overpricing to our growers, he says.