Market Trends of Germany Compound Feed Industry
Growing Consumer Preference Towards Meat and Other Animal Products
- The consumption of meat has been rising steadily across the world. The increasing population, urbanization, demographics, incomes, prices, and environmental and health concerns are key factors that influence the level and type of meat consumption. This is enhancing the demand for the compound feed market in the country. Livestock farmers need to produce high-quality and hygienic meat to satisfy the demand for the meat processing industry, which is a big challenge.
- According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a total of 5.12 million pigs, cattle, ships, goats, and horses were slaughtered in 2022, and the number of chickens, turkeys, and ducks was observed at 701.4 million.
- According to the Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food (BLE ), Germany produced 8.47 million metric tons of meat in 2020, and poultry meat production reached approximately 1.64 million metric tons. The degrees of supply of the different meat subsectors stand at 125% in the case of pig meat, 94.6% in beef, and 97.2% for poultry meat. In the country, with regard to poultry meat, in the same time interval, an increase of 6 kg (+ 83%) was observed, reaching the figure of 13.3 kg per capita.
- The German meat processing industry has seen a rise in enterprise numbers in recent years. Among meat-eaters, whether they go to the meat counter in their local supermarket or a butcher, it is common to have very particular preferences on where to buy meat and what to buy, especially with increasing consumer awareness about manufacturing methods behind the products. As an industry in Germany, meat processing and preserving are expected to increase revenues significantly. However, compared to selected European countries, such as France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom, Germany currently has the highest per capita meat consumption.
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Cereal Ingredients Dominates the Compound Feed Market
- Cereals are the most common and widely used ingredient in compound feed worldwide. Corn, barley, and sorghum are the most common cereal ingredients used in manufacturing compound feed. The cultivation of Maize in Germany is undertaken primarily to produce feed for cows, pigs, and poultry (maize for silage including green maize, grain maize, corn cob mix, and coarse maize meal with husks). According to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), poultry stocks in Germany were 176.6 million birds in 2020.
- Corn is the most widely consumed feed grain, accounting for more than 50% of the total production and use, with major feed applications in the poultry industry. Corn as a feed ingredient in compound feed can increase egg production in poultry. This, in turn, stimulated the demand for corn as a feed ingredient in the country. The regular price fluctuations of various kinds of cereal owing to the difference in production in varied geographical regions substantially hamper the use of cereals in compound feed. However, due to their cost-effectiveness, cereal by-products are gaining traction across feed manufacturers.
- In the 2022 marketing year, 20.9 million metric ton of grains were used for animal feed in Germany (-16%), of which about 6.6 million ton was wheat and 5.1 million ton was barley and corn. Almost 23% of grain consumption in Germany was used for food production (+3%). In comparison, around 18% (-1%) went into energy and industrial uses, which will escalate the use of cereals in the animal feed industry in the coming years.
