Global feed production again over 1 billion MT

This is according to the 2018 Alltech Global Feed Survey. The growth seen in 2017 was strong at 2.57% over last year. The feed industry, valued at $ 430 billion, has seen a 13% growth over the past 5 years, equating to an average of 2.49% per annum. This substantial growth is supported by the higher reported consumption of meat, milk and eggs.

The 7^th edition of the annual survey is the most comprehensive ever, now covering 144 countries and more than 30,000 feed mills. The results show that China and the US remain the top 2 countries, producing one-third of all animal feed, and that predominant growth came from the pig, broiler and dairy feed sectors as well as the European and Asia-Pacific regions.

Top 7 in 2017

The top 7 feed-producing countries in 2017, in order of production output importance, were China, the U.S., Brazil, Russia, Mexico, India and Spain. These countries contain approximately 54% of the world’s feed mills and account for 53% of total production. These countries can be viewed as an indicator of the trends in agriculture.

Species breakdown

In the poultry industry, broiler feed production increased across all regions, with the largest growth found in Africa with 10% and Europe with 7%. Romania, Russia and Ukraine all reported steady growth, contributing to Europe’s overall production, while Africa’s growth came primarily from Egypt, Uganda and Mozambique.

Global leaders in pork production, China and Russia, led the way in pig feed production in 2017. Many smaller African countries, particularly Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Uganda and Namibia, also showed increases.

Global dairy feed production saw growth across all regions. Europe, a global leader in dairy production, grew on average by approximately 2%. Africa as a region saw the largest dairy feed production increase by 10%, with countries such as South Africa, Morocco and Zimbabwe showing significant increases from their reported 2017 dairy feed production.

Beef feed production reported an overall global decline of approximately 1%, primarily in regions such as Latin America, Africa and Europe. This global downward trend has generally been felt by the industry for some time as more consumers turn to “white” meats such as chicken, pork and fish.

Overall aquaculture feeds showed a slight increase, particularly in the European and Asia-Pacific regions. China reported a decline of 5% this year and in 2016, which could be linked to government controls on feeding practices and food safety, such as the administration of antibiotics. Brazil, Chile and Peru led the increase in production in Latin America, as did Iran in the Middle East. Carp leads the production of aquaculture feed, followed by shrimp/prawn and tilapia. Catfish, salmon and trout also ranked on the species feed indicator, though to lesser degrees.

The pet food sector had a strong year across all regions. Asia-Pacific’s pet food production increased by 13%, with China, Thailand and Taiwan as the primary contributors to the increase. Europe increased by 17% with Russia, the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland and Hungary producing over 580,000 metric tons of additional pet food. Uruguay, Ecuador, El Salvador, Chile and Argentina represent almost all of the pet food production growth in Latin America, combining for 725,000 more tons.

Regional trends

The trends for total compound feed per regions (from 2012 to 2017) can be seen in this interactive graph.