The 2018 Alltech Global Feed Survey estimates that international feed tonnage has exceeded 1 billion metric tons for the second consecutive year, with a total of 1.07 billion metric tons of feed produced in 2017. The growth seen in 2017 was strong at 2.57 percent over the previous year.
The Alltech Global Feed Survey assesses compound feed production and prices through information collected by Alltech’s global sales team and in partnership with local feed associations in the last quarter of 2017. It is intended to serve as an information resource for policymakers, decision-makers, and industry stakeholders.
“Now in its seventh year of analysis, the Alltech Global Feed Survey continues to serve as a valuable report on the state of the global feed industry,” said Aidan Connolly, chief innovation officer and vice president of corporate accounts at Alltech. “In addition to its insights into the feed industry, it serves as a barometer for agriculture as a whole and oftentimes demonstrates the economic strength of the countries included in the survey.”
China and the U.S. remain the top two countries, producing one-third of all animal feed, with predominant growth coming from the pig, broiler, and dairy feed sectors as well as the European and Asia-Pacific regions.
The top seven 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 percent of the world’s feed mills and account for 53 percent of total production. These countries can be viewed as an indicator of the trends in agriculture.
The U.S. remains the second-largest feed-producing country globally, behind China. North America produces a third of the beef feed, five times that of the next-largest producer. The U.S. and Canada are two of the top horse feed producing countries. Feed prices in North America are lower than when compared to other regions.
The feed industry, valued at $430 billion, has seen 13 percent growth over the past five years, equating to an average of 2.49 percent per annum. This substantial growth is supported by the higher reported consumption of meat, milk, and eggs.
“The Alltech Global Feed Survey provides valuable data and insights on the health of the feed industry and agriculture as a whole,” said Connolly. “As such, we will continue to offer the findings of the feed survey freely in an effort to demonstrate the significance of the animal feed industry in feeding a growing global population, sustainably and affordably.”
