Market Trends of Germany Feed Additives Industry
Growth In Compound Feed Industry
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, In Germany, livestock accounts for nearly 60% of the revenue in agriculture. Probiotic feed additives are attracting the German consumers, due to their health benefits, such as enhancement of digestibility, while boosting immunity. The European livestock feed industry is likely to face a possible shortage of vitamins A and E, due to the ban on BASF's manufacturing plant in Germany, since 2017. Thus, the country is witnessing extreme price volatility, especially for vitamin feed components, as BASF supplied about 40% of the global supply of Citral, a critical precursor for the production of vitamins A and E. This is expected to hamper the growth of the European vitamins feed industry. In 2014, Germany started a move to restrict the usage of antibiotics in farm animals. In the same year, amendments were made to the German Drug Act, which primarily aimed at gradually reducing the usage of antibiotics in livestock farming. In addition, there are new regulations in the country, which are allowing the relevant authorities to check the frequency of usage of antibiotics in farm animals. Due to such restrictions, growers are pressured to shift to feed ingredients, which is driving the demand for feed probiotics in the country. Furthermore, this is expected to limit the market for antibiotics used in compound feed.
Increasing Demand For High Value Animal Protein
There has been increasing pressure on the livestock industry, to meet the growing demand for meat and high-value animal protein. Population growth, rising incomes in developing nations, and urbanization have led to a surge in global livestock production. The level of income and consumption of animal protein is directly related to the consumption of milk, meat, and eggs, which are increasing at the expense of staple foods. Due to the decline in prices of meat and meat products, developing countries are beginning to consume a large quantity of meat, at a much lower level of the gross domestic product than industrialized countries did two to three decades back. Urbanization has led to increased demand for meat and milk products in cities compared to the rural areas. Cities have varied diets, rich in animal protein and fat. Demand for the high-quality compound feed from the livestock industry, due to increased industrial production of meat and dairy products has elicited the growth in consumption of compound feed and feed additives. The raw materials used for compound feed production, such as maize, barley, soybean, are used for human consumption and production of ethanol. In this scenario, the feed industry competes with the food industry for raw materials.
