SAN FRANCISCO & WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TerraVia™ (Solazyme, Inc.) (NASDAQ: SZYM) (“TerraVia”) and Bunge Limited (NYSE: BG) (“Bunge”) announced today that they are launching native, whole algae DHA as a sustainable specialty feed ingredient, prioritizing the aquaculture market, which currently uses approximately $3 billion in omega-3 ingredients. DHA, docosahexaenoic acid, is a long chain omega-3 fatty acid that is a critical element for humans and animals, including fish, for healthy growth and development.
AlgaPrime™ DHA will be produced at the companies’ SB Renewable Oils joint venture facility in Brazil, where full product scale-up was reached in late 2015. The joint venture partners will act as exclusive distributors for AlgaPrime™ DHA. Product sampling to global aquaculture feed producers has taken place over the last several months.
TerraVia and Bunge also announced that they have reached a definitive commercial supply agreement with one of the world’s largest aquaculture feed suppliers. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Under the supply agreement, AlgaPrime™ DHA is slated to begin incorporation into fish feed for salmonids in the July-August 2016 timeframe.
“We’re excited to build on our experience in the food and feed ingredients industries to bring a new, sustainable and value added source of DHA to the market at the quality, cost and scale the global aquaculture industry needs,” said Bunge Limited CEO Soren Schroder.
“AlgaPrime™ DHA is our first major new product from the expanded joint venture with Bunge and could be a real game changer in keeping our oceans healthy by offering a non-marine based, sustainable source of omega-3s to help address the growing ‘fish in, fish out’ problem today. It provides a far more sustainable non-fish based source of DHA to help maintain healthy oceans while improving the nutritional value of seafood for our families,” said TerraVia CEO Jonathan Wolfson.
Long chain omega-3s such as DHA and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) are critical inputs used extensively in aquaculture feed, with fish oil and meal as their main sources. Aquaculture is one of the fastest growing food production systems in the world, a market that is estimated to reach $200 billion annually by 2020. This growth is helping to drive increasing demand for long chain omega-3s, particularly as global supplies of the traditional sources, fish oil and meal, are under serious and increasing pressure from overfishing, quotas and rising demand for human and animal nutrition.
AlgaPrime™ DHA provides a sustainable and efficient source of DHA that can be produced at high volumes to address increasing global demand without endangering fish stocks. About 1 million tons of omega-3 rich fish oil is produced annually for aquaculture, animal feed and human nutrition. To meet this need, today large quantities of wild fish are caught and processed to extract the fish oil. The demand for omega-3s is growing, but the availability of omega-3s from wild caught ocean fish is limited in nature. Wild fish and their prey naturally consume microalgae as their key and original source of DHA, making AlgaPrime™ DHA an excellent replacement for fish oil or meal.
“Aquaculture is becoming an increasingly important contributor to the global food system. To meet the continuing growth in demand for fish oil and fish meal, sustainable alternatives are needed,” said Piers Hart, Aquaculture Policy Officer, World Wildlife Fund, UK. “We are eager to see sustainable sources of omega-3 rich oils come to market at scale and reduce pressure on scarce marine resources. The high yield and potentially reduced environmental footprint of algae products produced at SB Renewable Oils in Brazil could make this a more sustainable source of fish feed ingredients.”
The SB Renewable Oils facility embodies the principles of sustainable production to produce algae-based products with low carbon, water and land use impacts. This is in part enabled by the use of Bonsucro®-certified sugarcane as the feedstock, and the joint venture partners are in the process of securing certification against the Chain of Custody standard. Bonsucro® is a multi-stakeholder organization that sets standards for the sustainable production of sugar and sugar-derived products at each link of the supply chain, including cultivation, processing and transport.
In addition, sugarcane waste material (bagasse) is an efficient, renewable source of energy and is used to generate electricity and steam that powers the sugar mill and fermentation facility, as well as electricity for general use.
For more information and commercial inquiries, contact us at contact@AlgaPrime.com.
About TerraVia™
TerraVia™ (Solazyme, Inc.) is a next generation food, nutrition and specialty ingredients company that harnesses the power of algae, the mother of all plants and earth’s original superfood. With a portfolio of breakthrough ingredients and manufacturing, the Company is well positioned to help meet the growing need of consumer packaged goods and established and emerging food manufacturers to improve the nutritional profile of foods without sacrificing taste, and to develop select consumer brands. The Company also manufactures a range of specialty personal care ingredients for key strategic partners. Headquartered in South San Francisco, the Company’s mission is to create products that are truly better for people and better for the planet. For additional information, please visit TerraVia’s website at www.terravia.com.
About Bunge Limited
Bunge Limited (www.bunge.com, NYSE: BG) is a leading global agribusiness and food company operating in over 40 countries with approximately 35,000 employees. Bunge buys, sells, stores and transports oilseeds and grains to serve customers worldwide; processes oilseeds to make protein meal for animal feed and edible oil products for commercial customers and consumers; produces sugar and ethanol from sugarcane; mills wheat, corn and rice to make ingredients used by food companies; and sells fertilizer in South America. Founded in 1818, the company is headquartered in White Plains, New York.
Solazyme Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements that involve risks and uncertainties concerning: the timing and cost of production and sales of DHA and its environmental impact; the ability of algae-based DHA to address demand for use in fish feed; the ability of algae-based DHA production to help maintain oceans and the nutritional value of seafood; future product trials; who will market and distribute the DHA product; continued expansion of the aquaculture industry and demand for omega-3s; market acceptance of products; and the ability to maintain relationships with partners. When used in this press release, the words "will", "expects", "intends" and other similar expressions and any other statements that are not historical facts are intended to identify those assertions as forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any such statement may be influenced by a variety of factors, many of which are beyond the control of the companies, that could cause actual outcomes and results to be materially different from those projected, described, expressed or implied in this press release due to a number of risks and uncertainties. Potential risks and uncertainties include, among others: Solazyme’s limited operating history; its limited history commercializing products; implementation risk in deploying new technologies; its limited experience in constructing, ramping up and operating commercial manufacturing facilities; delays related to start-up and ramp-up of production facilities; commercial risk in deploying new products; its ability to successfully develop and commercialize new products; its ability to sell products; successful product trials by customers and market acceptance and adoption of products by end-users; the ability to obtain requisite regulatory approvals for products; its access, on favorable terms, to any required financing; and availability of consistent, reliable power and steam. Accordingly, no assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what impact they will have on the results of operations or financial condition.
In addition, please refer to the documents that Solazyme, Inc. files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Quarterly Reports on Forms 10-Q and its Annual Report on Form 10-K, as updated from time to time, for a discussion of these and other risks. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Solazyme is not under any duty to update any of the information in this press release.
Bunge Limited Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains both historical and forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements are not based on historical facts, but rather reflect our current expectations and projections about our future results, performance, prospects and opportunities, including the products and transactions discussed in this press release. We have tried to identify these forward-looking statements by using words including “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “plan,” “intend,” “estimate,” “continue” and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause our actual results, performance, prospects or opportunities to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. The following important factors, among others, could affect our business and financial performance: industry conditions, including supply, demand and prices for the products described in this press release, as well as agricultural commodities and other raw materials and products used in our business; fluctuations in energy and freight costs and competitive developments in our industries; the effects of weather conditions and the outbreak of crop and animal disease on our business; global and regional agricultural, economic, financial and commodities market, political, social and health conditions; the outcome of pending regulatory and legal proceedings; our ability to complete, integrate and benefit from acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures and strategic alliances; our ability to achieve the efficiencies, savings and other benefits anticipated from our cost reduction, margin improvement and other business optimization initiatives; changes in government policies, laws and regulations affecting our business, including agricultural and trade policies, tax regulations and biofuels legislation; and other factors affecting our business generally. The forward-looking statements included in this release are made only as of the date of this release, and except as otherwise required by federal securities law, we do not have any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.