September 20, 2010

Japan's July compound feed output slips 0.3% on-year

The total compound feed output of Japan fell 0.3% in July from a year earlier to 1.97 million tonnes, the third straight month of declines after a recent FMD outbreak.

Compound feed output follows a 4.7% decline in June to about two million tonnes.

FMD broke out in April, and was officially declared over in August. It killed about 290,000 pigs and cows in Miyazaki Prefecture in southern Japan.

Data in the coming months is expected to show further declines due to an extremely hot summer in Japan this year, which has dampened pigs' appetite for feed while killing chicken in northern Japan.

Japan bought 11.3 million tonnes of corn for feed use in 2009, down 3.3% from the previous year. US-origin corn accounted for 96%, with minor suppliers including Ukraine and Argentina.

Japanese corn production is negligible making it the world's biggest corn importer.