February 28, 2007

 

Promising growth in Brazilian meat exports and animal feed industry drives demand for feed additives

 

 

Brazil's position as one of the most important meat exporters in the world and one of the leading animal feed producers is driving strong growth of its animal feed additives market.

 

The country's average annual production of animal feed is 47 million tonnes, while its export of chicken and pork meat is steadily rising from year to year, as well as the internal consumption of these products. These factors have done much to boost the Brazilian market for animal feed additives.

 

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan ( http://www.foodandbeverages.frost.com ), Brazilian Animal Feed Additives Market, reveals that the market earned revenues of $277.8 million in 2005, and estimates this to reach $383.1 million in 2012.

 

Frost & Sullivan Research analyst Victoria Verdier said Brazil's animal feed industry is expected to increase its production to 61 million tonnes or 30 percent growth in four years. She also said that per capita meat consumption is likely to reach around 37 kilogrammes over the next 20 years, thus pushing for a higher demand for feed and feed additives.

 

The rise in Brazil's meat consumption can be attributed to increasing demand from a growing population that has higher disposable incomes, with even the poorest sections of society able to purchase and consume poultry and cattle meat. The year 2005 represented one of the best years for the poultry industry, both for exports and internal demand. Revenues from the export of chicken meat to 142 countries touched $3.5 billion, up 35 percent from the previous year. Internal consumption also increased by 4.69 percent reaching 35.4 kg per person.

 

Among the various segments of the feed additives market, amino acids are the largest in terms of both volume and revenues, but the spotlight is increasingly shifting to enzymes. Enzymes offer an excellent alternative to antibiotics, particularly in light of the strict regulations introduced by the European Union (EU), one of the Brazilian meat industry's biggest customers, which ban the use of antibiotics as growth promoters.

 

Verdier said enzymes help reduce feed cost as it aids digestibility of the feed especially with high fibre content which increases the output of energy per metric ton of feed.

 

With the fast absorption of feeds, Verdier said enzymes reduces the feed conversion rate into meat and increases feed efficiency, allowing an animal to grow to full efficiency with less feed.

 

However, the threat of diseases such as avian flu and foot-and-mouth disease is a constant source of concern due to their potentially harmful effects on the livestock industry. Even though these diseases have not actually struck Brazil, the constant possibility that they might poses a major challenge. In Malaysia, for example, there was a 30 percent drop in the sales of poultry meat following the outbreak of bird flu in the country.

 

The challenge for Brazil and other countries therefore, said Verdier, is to find ways to sustain the use of feed additives amid the threat of these diseases because these can create significant fluctuations in meat product sales volume and consequently affect livestock numbers, feed and feed additive volume. 

 

She stressed that sustenance of disease-free status calls for the continuation of existing precautionary measures and the necessary implementation of new systems.