The world produced a record one billion tonnes of animal feed last year, and it did so with seven percent fewer feed mills.

China and the United States produced a third of the world’s feed supply, said Aidan Connolly, chief innovation officer and vice-president of corporate accounts for Alltech, an international animal nutrition and health company.

Alltech’s most recent global feed survey found that the top 10 feed producing countries in 2016 were China, the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Spain, India, Russia, Germany, Japan and France. Canada was among the top 30. 

As well, two percent more protein was available, which resulted in increased consumption of meat, milk and eggs.

“Not only are we getting more food out of our farms, we are also doing so with less requirement for feed,” Connolly said. “Feed efficiency is actually increasing.”

Lower prices for ingredients such as corn and soybeans helped reduce the cost of feed, which accounts for 70 percent of livestock’s cost of production.

“Overall feed prices are down, and therefore food production costs are down,” said Connolly.

“From a global perspective, we estimate the value of the feed industry at $460 billion.”

Aquaculture and the aqua feed industry have seen six years of growth in line with increased consumption of farmed fish.

China is the world leader in fish feed production at 16 million tonnes. It’s estimated that three-quarters of the world’s fish feed is consumed in the Asia Pacific region.

Different species are produced in different regions.

Source: The Western Producer // Original Article