2012 Summary of the global feed processing industry

2013 ALLTECH Global Feed Summary: Global feed production statistics have traditionally been difficult to quantify because many countries lack national feed associations.

For this reason, Alltech began in late 2011 to leverage its global presence to obtain a more accurate estimate of the world's feed tonnage. The results of the annual year-end assessment were announced in January as an industry outlook resource for the new calendar year.

For its second report, Alltech assessed the compound feed production of 134 countries in December 2012. Where possible, information was obtained in partnership with local feed associations and, when not possible, it was done utilizing information gathered by the more than 500 members of Alltech’s global salesforce, who visit more than 26,000 feed mills on an annual basis.

When reviewing the data, there are two considerations to bear in mind. First, numbers for less developed countries may be less accurate, but given their size, this will have little numerical influence on the overall dataset. Second, the definition of feed, feed mill and species varies from country to country.

Overall, the new results affirm a growing feed industry with a global feed tonnage of 954.4 million, a 9 percent increase over the late 2011 estimates of 873 million. The actual underlying growth is likely to be about 4 to 5 percent since the latest results include new sources of information not available in 2011 and identify more accurately the statistics for individual species. China, Brazil, India and Russia (BRIC) represented 33 million tons of the increase.

Among the 134 countries reviewed, China was once again the leading producer of feed with 198.3 million tons manufactured in the official estimate of more than 10,000 feed mills. Consistent with late 2011 assessments, the United States and Brazil followed in second and third places, with 168.5 million tons from 5,251 feed mills and 66 million tons from 1,237 feed mills respectively.

Asia continues to be the world’s leading feed producing region at 356 million tons. One region, however, exceeded Asia in percent growth over 2011 results. Africa was found to be the fastest growing area in terms of tons of feed manufactured, increasing its tonnage 19 percent from 47 million in 2011 to 56 million in 2012. The Middle East was estimated to have the largest feed mills, with an average of more than 63,000 tons produced per mill.

Number of Feed Mills (Estimate): 26,240

Total Tonnage (million) 2012: 954.4

When analyzed by species, poultry continues to dominate with a 44 percent share of the feed market at 417.8 million tons, likely due to religious and taste preferences as well as cost. It grew by approximately 10 percent over 2011 estimates. Sixty percent of all poultry tonnage is dedicated to broilers, with the rest fed to egg layers, turkeys, duck and other fowl.

The pig feed sector matched poultry’s 8 percent growth, moving to 218 million tons globally. The ruminant feed market, comprising dairy, beef and small ruminants, grew more than 13 percent between late 2011 and December 2012, and now requires 254 million tons. Equine feed tonnage increased almost 17 percent to 10.8 million tons.

Aquaculture grew nearly 16 percent since 2011. Pet food represents 20.5 million tons, 40 percent of which are produced in the United States, but Brazil continues to make considerable advances in this sector.

The 2012 assessment identified a total of 26,240 feed mills globally, with Asia and North America being home to more than half of them. Sixty percent of the feed produced is pelleted, and this is even more prevalent in Europe.