January 2, 2017

 

EU livestock consumes 477M tonnes of feeds yearly

 

 

Livestock production in the EU, in terms of value, totalled €164.3 billion in 2015, accounting for 39.7% of the overall agricultural output of €414 billion. 

 

In the livestock industry, it is the feed stuffs, which include feed materials and compound feeds, that are the main input into livestock production.

 

According to the 2015 edition of the FEFAC (European Feed Manufacturers' Federation) statistical yearbook "Feed & Food", released in December 2016, about 477 million tonnes of feed stuffs are consumed by livestock each year, of which 233 million tonnes are roughages grown and used on the farm of origin.

 

The rest, or 244 million tonnes of feed, includes cereals grown and used on the farm of origin (51 million tonnes) and feed purchased by livestock producers to supplement their own feed resources (either feed materials or compound feed).

 

According to the yearbook, 155 million tonnes of compound feed were produced by EU manufacturers. Compound feed also accounted for 80% of all purchased feed stuffs. The value of all feed stuffs used by EU livestock producers in 2015, including forages produced on the farm, was estimated at €90.8 billion. This accounts for 37% of all inputs and 55% of the turnover in livestock production. Purchases of compound feed—which is manufactured from a mixture of raw materials including cereals, oilseeds and pulses—amounted to €49 billion in 2014.

 

Capital-intensive

 

The compound feed industry has become capital-intensive since the recent years and makes use of a very high level of technology, the yearbook stated.

 

Other facts about the compound feed industry within the 28-nation European bloc, according to the yearbook:

 

-- Advanced methods are used to formulate feeds based on the demands of the livestock farmer—which reflects final consumers' demand—and to control the raw materials used, the manufacturing process and the quality of the finished feeds.

 

-- The compound feed industry is subject to a complex body of both EU and national legislations affecting almost every part of its operation. These legislations are designed to ensure that feeds are of high quality and are safe for both livestock and consumers.

 

-- Compound feed production grew by over 7.5% per year during the 1960s and early '70s when the European Community was still composed of nine members (Belgium, West Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Denmark, Ireland and UK). In addition, particularly in the pig and poultry sectors, production was becoming more intensive requiring greater use of industrial compound feed to meet high performance and quality requirements.

 

-- For the remainder of the '70s, annual average growth of compound feed production in EC-9 slowed down, stabilising at only 4.4%. This lower rate partly reflected the effects of the 1973 "oil price shock" on consumers' incomes.

 

From mid-'80s

 

-- From the mid-'80s on, consumption of all livestock products grew more slowly because of the saturation of the EU-15 market and increasing consumer concern about health matters and animal welfare.

 

-- From 1996 on, the compound feed production suffered from the impact of the BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease) crisis that resulted in a 9% reduction in cattle feed in 1998 compared with 1995. This decrease was offset by a parallel growth of consumers' demand for white meat. As a result, compound feed production in the EU has remained almost stable since 1996.

 

-- The years 2004, 2007 and 2013 experienced production spurts that brought an addition of some 22 million tonnes of compound feed to the EU production.

 

As the market for feeding stuffs depends on the market for livestock products, it is interesting to note that in 2015, the EU-28 livestock population produced 50.3 million tonnes of meat (7.6 million tonnes of beef, 22.9 million tonnes of pork and 14.4 million tonnes of poultry meat), 164 million tonnes of milk and 7.6 million tonnes of eggs.

 

The average per capita consumption of meat (including horse meat, rabbits and offals) in 2015 was 91.6 kilogrammes, compared with only 50 kg in the EC-6 during the late 1950s.

 

Feed & Food 2015 can be downloaded here (file:///C:/Users/Aspire/Documents/efeedlink2/Jan2'17/feed&food2015.pdf).

 

The Feed & Food 2015 contains a number of data regarding the calendar year 2015 on feed (compound feed production, feed materials consumption, turnover, number of plants, share of feed in intermediate consumption, etc.) and food (meat production, consumption, etc.). It can be downloaded for free.