The industry is seeing new opportunities, as well as challenges in the domestic catering and consumer markets.

Since 2019, the African swine fever epidemic continues to ravage Asia, a continent with major pork productions and consumption.

China's live swine inventory has dropped to its lowest point in the past 10 years. Poultry meat has undoubtedly become the best substitute. Although China's chicken meat has not been changing the diets of people as much as in the United States, Japan and the European Union, it remains the second largest source of meat protein for Chinese residents.

With growing health awareness and the fast pace life in China, low-fat chicken suitable for fast food cooking is gradually replacing high-fat and high-cholesterol pork. Experts predict that in 2020, the domestic pork production shortfall will further increase, meaning that the capacity for chicken to replace pork may increase by more than 3.1 million tonnes, translating to a required broiler capacity exceeding 2.1 billion head.

High-quality broilers are inseparable from good feeding practices. In order to better serve its customers and help them seize the current market opportunity, Zhengchang has introduced its third-generation premium chicken feed pelleting system, 658 (Dr. Chicken).

The pelleting system is a result of four years of persistent research, several field experiments and joint trials with key customers.

Zhengchang 658 can reduce the feed-to-meat ratio of broiler chickens (including chicken gizzards), ensure the production of safe and environmentally-friendly feed and extend the productive life of grandparent hens.

Taking a 50,000-tonne/year feed factory as an example, Zhengchang 658 can feed about 10 million chickens of average weight of three kilogrammes at ¥10 (US$1.52) per kilogramme. The feed-to-meat ratio is reduced by 0.05, translating to an increase of the total income of the producer by ¥9.47 (US$1.44) million a year.

With the same Φ3.5 ring die and a ring die pressing ratio of 1:14, the Zhengchang 200kw granulator can reach 14.5 tonnes/hour, which is three tonnes higher than other counterparts in the industry. The power consumption per tonnes is 3.6 degrees lower than the counterparts. That is to say, for 20H production per day, continuous production for 300 days, at an electricity cost of ¥1/kWh (US$0.15), the producer can save ¥720,000 (US$109,843) per year.

Zhengchang 658 adopts an industry-leading process design: the whole pelleting process is temperature-controlled, with a quality-adjustable time of 5-8 minutes. The outlet material temperature can reach 70-90 degrees, which can completely eliminate Salmonella.

The whole process of granulation is automated and intelligent. The gelatinisation degree of corn in its coarse powder state can be as high as 34.1%, and the oil absorption is large (7-9%).

Under the same ring moulding ratio, the particle hardness can reach 50-60N (three minutes). With the advantages of cooked coarse meal and hard pellet feed, the design also helps customers to obtain opportunities in market development.