Alltech releases 2018 poultry feed data

This is according to data from the Alltech Global Feed Survey, released on Tuesday, 29 January. The 8^th edition of the annual survey includes data from 144 countries and nearly 29,605 feed mills. If we look at the last 7 years, we see a continuous rise in global total feed production, from 954.4 million metric tonnes (MT) in 2012 to 1,103 million tonnes in 2018. The last 3 years, the total volume has been over the 1 billion MT. The feed is produced in fewer feed mills, meaning that the feed mills become bigger (and smaller in total number) each year.

Layer and broiler feed

152.6 million MT layer feed was produced in 2018. Major growth areas for layer feed included Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific. In Europe, Poland and Uzbekistan each saw a growth of around 200,000 metric tons. Latin America’s growth was biggest in Colombia, Peru, Brazil and Mexico. In the Asia-Pacific region, South Korea, India and Indonesia all saw growth of several hundred metric tons. North America saw an overall growth of 2%, in which both the US and Canada saw increases in production. Africa saw a small decrease in layer production, which was in large part due to declines in both Egypt and Seychelles.

304.6 million MT broiler feed was produced in 2018. Demonstrating the continued interest in this versatile protein source, broiler feed production increased by about 3% in 2018. There was growth in all regions, with the exception of Latin America, in which a very small decline was observed, contributed by Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela. All other regions were up, though, particularly Africa, at 9%. Although this isn’t huge growth from a production standpoint, it does show an overall trend: that as populations grow and become wealthier, interest in protein, particularly in palatable chicken, does as well. Alltech also sees potential to improve in Africa, as the feed prices are currently relatively high in this continent (e.g layer feed prices reaching over 489 US dollars per tonne). Also the Middle East, and in particular Iran showed growth in broiler feed production (+ 500,000 MT).

The big 7 countries

The top 7 countries (the big 7) are China, the US, Brazil, Russia, India, Mexico and Spain. These countries can be viewed as an indicator of the trends in agriculture. All countries showed an increase, except for Brazil, which showed a small decrease in total feed production in 2018 (68.7 million MT versus 69.9 million MT in 2017). China remains the ultimate winner with 187,9 million MT in 2018. This is 5.4% more than in 2017.