Methane reducing feed additive producer CH4 Global has done a deal with Korean business giant Lotte International to supply its products to Korean livestock farmers.

CH4 is developing operations to harvest asparagopsis seaweed from its land-based ponds in South Australia, and in New Zealand.

Compounds in red asparagopsis seaweed have been found to reduce methane emissions from livestock by at least 80 percent

In a statement, CH4 Global said it was “on the path to scalable and profitable production of products that enable the food industry value chain to radically reduce methane emissions.”

Its deal with Lotte International will take the company’s ruminant enteric methane-reduction product, Methane Tamer, to the South Korean market.

CH4 Global and Lotte International were “advancing studies for regulatory approval” in South Korea in consultation with the government, the release said.

The partnership includes the initial supply of product for trials starting in November at Lotte’s own Australian feedlot, Sandalwood, near Dalby on Queensland’s Darling Downs, for up to 7000 head of cattle.

As outlined in Beef Central’s recent Top 25 Lotfeeders report, Sandalwood primarily produces Wagyu beef.

The release made a somewhat optimistic claim suggesting Lotte could provide up to four million Korean cattle with the enteric methane-reducing feed supplement. There are currently 3.7 million head of cattle in Korea, suggesting it expects every beast in the country will receive the additive.

“The climate impact, from reduced emissions from four million cattle would be as much as ten million tonnes, or a conservative seven million tons of CO2-e per year,” the company said.

The target launch for the project was 2025, with Lotte leading commercialisation and CH4 Global manufacturing and supplying product, it said. No explanation was made about producing enough asparagopsis to meet this lofty expectation.

“As a company that operates a beef business in Australia, reducing methane gas is a very important ESG issue. Therefore, we are actively working together with CH4 to reduce methane gas generated at Sandalwood and supply low-carbon beef in the market,” Lotte International chief executive Ki-ho Jeong said.

“In addition, we are working to introduce CH4 Global products in Korea to support the Korean government’s goal of reducing methane gas emissions.”

Though the country’s provincial governments, Korean beef farmers are heavily subsidised on feed costs, drugs and other inputs, but there are not yet any signs of subsidy for environmental or methane inhibition, Beef Central was told.

“From the start, CH4 Global has been focused on developing the products and partnerships that enable us to reach our critical goal of reducing methane emissions on a global scale. This partnership with Lotte is another step in the direction of achieving our vision and putting our groundbreaking feed additive in the hands of farmers and food producers worldwide,” said CH4 Global chief executive Steve Meller.

The company’s Methane Tamer feed additive is based on asparagopsis seaweed produced in land-based (tank and in-ground) pond farms, when added to cattle feed, drastically reduces the animals’ methane emissions by up to 90pc while also reducing feed energy lost to methane emissions, the statement said.

“The world’s 1.5 billion cows produce more than 150 million tonnes of methane annually – the largest single source of methane globally,” the release claimed.

“At more than 12 billion tonnes of CO2-e per year (at an average of 100kg methane/cow), this is a larger GHG output than from the US, the EU, and India combined. Moreover, the UN cites methane as 80 times more impactful than CO2 on global warming over the next 20 years.”

About Lotte International

Lotte International, founded in 1974, is dedicated to producing and sourcing agricultural products and feed ingredients within the Lotte Group. Lotte group is the sixth largest company in Korea, consisting of 90 businesses employing 60,000 people engaged in such diverse industries as candy manufacturing, beverages, hotels, fast food, retail, financial services, industrial chemicals, electronics, IT, construction, publishing, and entertainment. Lotte runs additional businesses in China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Uzbekistan, India, United States, United Kingdom, Kazakhstan, Russia, Philippines, Myanmar, Pakistan, Poland, Australia and New Zealand.