For the last few years, the Indian feed industry has been undergoing a phase of growth, and this trend is expected to continue in the coming years. It is also a very competitive sector; some of the key players include Godrej Agrovet, Cargill India, Japfa India, Anmol Feeds and Avanti Feeds.
The livestock sector is a significant contributor to India’s agricultural GDP and national GDP and can grow further. Most of the growth is from dairy and poultry. India is also one of the largest feed producers in the world.
The Indian livestock sector is gradually shifting away from traditional feed towards more use of industrial compound feed – seen to be more consistent in quality and supply.
Indian consumption of amino acids and vitamins has been rising in recent years, reflecting the rapid increase in global production capacity. While there is no feed-grade amino acid capacity in the country, India does produce vitamins B3 and D3 500.
“India’s livestock industry is undergoing a transformation, in tandem with positive macroeconomic and demographic trends”, Mr. Neeraj Kumar Srivastava, chairman at CLFMA (Compound Livestock Feed Manufacturers of India), said in October. “Our current focus is the adoption of modern solutions to overcome existing and upcoming challenges.”
In his view, the top three challenges the industry is facing are concerning volatility in soybean and corn, which form 70% or more of the total cost of animal feed, marketing (no clearly defined go-to-market strategies), and disease control (lumpy skin disease, bird flu, and Inclusion Body Hepatitis) to cite just a few examples. Adverse weather conditions, aggravated by climate change, are also hurting livestock industry profitability on a large scale.
Speaking to Feedinfo earlier this year, Mr. Srivastava said that lower broiler production in Q4 2022 and early Q1 2023 has forced many to reduce broiler chick placements by almost 25-30%, bringing down feed production in Q4 2022. Broiler producers were expecting price improvements. 2023 is forecasted to be better than 2022 based on industry dynamics and growing demand for chicken. Poultry export opportunities are going to be the main driver.
It is also interesting to note that prices for animal nutrition products in India in early 2022 were in recovering after COVID-19, but India’s feed industry was adversely affected by the record heatwave in March 2022 that impacted 15 Indian states and Union Territories.
The unusual temperature rise affected mainly the wheat crops in the country. With the growing price of maize, the feed industry was relying mainly on wheat. To meet local demand both from the feed sector and the human side, the government of India took the decision to ban wheat exports in June 2022.
“The feed industry in India is currently suffering from the high cost of raw materials, any addition in supply gap or price escalation is going to put an additional burden on the industry,” CLFMA said at the time.
The above summary has been compiled based on a series of articles produced in the past few quarters by our correspondent in India. If you have an interest in following the Indian feed sector and feed additives, Feedinfo can help. Get in touch today for a free trial of the service and see how our pricing and news information can help you.
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