January 2, 2018

EU livestock consumes 481M tonnes of feeds yearly, says latest FEFAC yearbook

Livestock production in the EU, in terms of value, totalled €160 billion (US$192.46 billion) in 2016, accounting for 39.4% of the overall agricultural output of €407 billion. 

Animal feed stuffs, which include feed materials and compound feeds, were the main input into livestock production.

According to the 2016 edition of the FEFAC (European Feed Manufacturers' Federation) statistical yearbook "Feed & Food", released in December 2017, about 481 million tonnes of feed stuffs are consumed by livestock yearly as of 2016, of which 233 million tonnes are roughages grown and used on the farm of origin.

The rest, or 248 million tonnes of feed, include cereals grown and used on the farm of origin (52 million tonnes) and feed purchased by livestock producers to supplement their own feed resources (either feed materials or compound feed).

According to the yearbook, 156.5 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 2016, including forages produced on the farm, was estimated at €87.5 billion ($105.23 billion). This accounted 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 ($58.93 billion) in 2015.

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.

Meanwhile, the average per capita consumption of meat (including horse meat, rabbits and offals) in 2016 was 91 kilogramme, compared with only 50 kg in the EC-6 during the late 1950s.

Feed & Food 2015 can be downloaded here.