As part of the AMAGGI Group, Denofa AS is the only industrial company in Norway with Brazilian owners.
This special bond prompted the newly appointed ambassador, H.E. Rodrigo de Azeredo Santos, to accept an invitation to visit their production facility in Fredrikstad, south of Oslo.
At this site, BNCC-member Denofa imports large ships containing non-GMO and certified deforestation-free soybeans from (primarily) Brazil and processes them into meal, oil, and an emulsifier called lecithin. These are crucial ingredients in both animal feed and foodstuffs, which the Ambassador learned more about in the meeting.
And because Brazilian soybeans are cultivated under optimal climatic conditions, they contain more protein than any other legumes – as well as soybeans grown elsewhere in the world. In turn, the extremely high protein content allows Norwegian farmers to utilize a higher percentage of their locally produced grains for animal feed, thus increasing Norway’s overall self-sufficiency. In terms of quality, soybeans are the only plant-based feed ingredient that contains all nine essential amino acids, making it a complete protein source.
Ambassador Azeredo Santos expressed a particular interest in the sustainability work that Denofa and AMAGGI have done over the last decades. Due to the Norwegian government’s non-GMO requirement stemming from the 1990s, Denofa became the first soybean importer in the world to establish a full traceability system, able to track and trace every single shipment received to guarantee it was not contaminated by any GMOs.
More importantly, when the deforestation of the Amazon and Cerrado biomes became heavily linked to soybean production in the 2000s, Denofa already had a traceability system in place to ensure responsible sourcing of deforestation-free soybeans from Brazil.
This became a benchmark in conjunction with the ProTerra certification, which came into effect in 2008. Norway later became the first country in Europe to achieve 100% deforestation-free soy consumption when the fish feed industry also managed to establish a similar traceability system for their soybean concentrate (SPC) imports.
Building on past achievements, Ambassador Azeredo Santos seemed eager to strengthen bilateral bonds and continue to promote close cooperation on several matters. The Ambassador even shared exciting plans to arrange meetings or events to facilitate such collaborations between Brazilian and Norwegian stakeholders.
Denofa is a member of the Brazilian Norwegian Chamber of Commerce (BNCC), and the Ambassador reiterated his intention to remain active in this forum, assisting Norwegian companies operating in Brazil – and vice versa in Denofa and AMAGGI’s case – in Norway as well.
The meeting concluded with a site visit, where the Ambassador got a quick walkthrough of the various processes needed to maximize the Brazilian soybean’s potential at Denofa’s Norwegian crushing facility.
Denofa is very grateful for the visit and looking forward to close collaborations with the new Ambassador.
Visit Denofa website for more information
Article by : Vegard Haugen – Head of communication Denofa & BNCC board member
