In 2022, Chinese pig prices were mostly below production costs from January to June while the industry was hit by multiple losses Pig prices then recovered since late June and reached their peak in October, hence helping pig producers to make profits in the second half of the year. However, as production patterns differed among different companies, some companies managed to offset their losses in Q1 with profits made in Q2, thereby achieving full-year profits.

Last April, pork consumption in China recovered steadily. However, due to the availability of finishing pigs and weak demand, pork prices fell by 3.8% from March 2023, contributing to a low consumer price index (CPI). Based on data compiled by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the average weekly pork demand in April was 9,311.50 tonnes, a 6.78% increase from last March's 8,769.25 tonnes.

Before the African swine fever outbreak in 2018, China's pork production was around 50 million tonnes. Following about five years of recovery, production expanded to 47 million tonnes by 2022. Meanwhile, the shortage of pork during China's ASF outbreak has transformed the pattern of domestic meat consumption. Per capita pork consumption last year decreased by more than 10% compared with the previous year.

While pork is not a preferred meat in India for religious reasons, there is demand for the meat in the country's northeastern states and metro cities.

Latest statistics by the China Feed Industry Association show that China's 2022 feed production totaled 302.234 million tonnes, a 3.0% increase over 2021. However, the output of concentrated feed and premixed feed had, in fact, dropped significantly. Meanwhile, feed consumption in China has decreased.

China is the largest aquafeed producer in the world; in 2022, its aquafeed production reached 24.30 million tonnes while consumption totaled 31.63 million tonnes. Based on Chinese feed producers' classification, aquafeeds for the four common fishes — Chinese carp, grass carp, silver carp and bighead carp — in the market are known as 'common feeds,' while others are known as 'special feeds.' Special feeds are produced for 'special' aquatic species including freshwater shrimps, crabs and freshwater fish (such as perch, snakehead fish and golden pomfret).

India-based Lumis Enzymes is owned by the K-Genix corporate group, which was founded in 1945 and focuses on the research and production of pharmaceutical and biotech products. "Owing to our technological excellence in fermentation with a team of dedicated research scientists and industrially potent microbial strains, Lumis Enzymes proactively continues to offer several unique and sustainable enzyme solutions for the animal feed industry," Lumis Enzymes tells eFeedLink.

Late last year, it was reported that the Zhongchengtou-Zhengda integrated photovoltaic shrimp farm in Dongying, Shandong, was expected to complete construction last January. The first phase of the project, which involved a ¥350 million investment, has about 50,000 cubic meters of industrialised breeding waters, with a capacity to breed up to four batches of shrimp a year. This translates to an annual output of 1,600 tonnes of shrimp.

The Philippines continues to witness a spate of African swine fever (ASF) cases, with its situation - to a certain degree - affecting how other local livestock productions (specifically, poultry) are conducted in some areas.

China is the world's largest producer and exporter of tilapia, with the United States as the biggest importer of Chinese tilapia.However, Chinese tilapia exports have been trending low since the third quarter of 2022. Industry veterans projected the country's tilapia production to suffer a freefall this year, a great challenge for tilapia producers if that would happen.

In 2021, the use of wheat in China surged but lysine consumption did not decrease, which means the inclusion rates of lysine in feed formulation were somewhat maintained. Last year, the use of wheat shrank prominently, whereas those of other substitute ingredients increased. However, the consumption of lysine did not increase in tandem as the practice of precision animal nutrition (PAN) is taking root in the feed industry.

More than 30 years ago, BASF created the first enzymes for animal nutrition and introduced them into feed solutions for pig, poultry and aquaculture productions. "As feed enzymes pioneers, we have been innovating and refining them ever since," Dr. Sven K. Weber, the vice president of Feed Enzymes & Feed Performance Ingredients at BASF, tells eFeedLink. Dr. Weber shares more about enzymes in animal nutrition and BASF's role in this market.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, China's total poultry egg production was 34.56 million tonnes in 2022, a 1.4% increase, of which around 85% was chicken egg. Egg consumption is divided between fresh eggs and egg-based products. The consumption habit of Chinese consumers is gradually changing, and the consumption of raw eggs is increasing.

Following the outbreak of COVID-19, Chinese local authorities closed down live poultry markets, which expedited the pace of centralised slaughtering and the sales of chilled and fresh poultry products across China. This development mainly affected the yellow-feather broiler market. Key players in this segment include Wen's Group, Jiangsu Lihua, Guangdong Jiangfeng and Hunan Xiangjia. These companies are investing in three areas to adapt to the change: building broiler slaughterhouses, setting up food companies and product branding and promoting.

Alltech recently issued its Agri-Food Outlook 2022 and reported 2021's global feed production volume at 1.2355 billion tonnes. The output of organic trace mineral products may pale in comparison. However, it does not mean that this market is negligible. According to a report by Global Market Insights, it is estimated that by 2024, the sales of organic trace minerals for feed in the global market will exceed US$750 million.

The threat of mycotoxins in animal feed remains a top priority for the agriculture industry. To better understand this challenge, eFeedLink speaks to Nick Adams, global director of mycotoxin management at Alltech, during the VIV Asia 2023 trade show in Bangkok, Thailand. Adams shares the intricacies of mycotoxin risk analysis and both global and regional perspectives on mycotoxin contamination.

At the VIV Asia 2023 trade show in Bangkok, Thailand, Kemin Industries engaged with customers face-to-face in a very dynamic manner. Kemin's business units, namely Kemin Animal Nutrition and Health (Asia Pacific and South Asia), Kemin Biologics and Kemin AquaScience™, came together to showcase their services and solutions at the event. Chris Nelson, president and chief executive officer of Kemin Industries, shares with eFeedLink about the company's participation at VIV Asia, the role of its business units and the exciting developments it is ushering in.

Feed enzymes developer AB Vista relishes reconnecting with its customers at the onsite edition of VIV Asia 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand. As the show returns to its original format, Dieter Suida, global commercial director of the company, prioritises face-to-face meetings as one of AB Vista's agendas. "With COVID, we have learned to use other resources to meet (with customers) through the use of digital media tools," he remarks. "We have seen that these tools are here to stay but face-to-face meeting is still important. We are now balancing between (these two forms of communication)."

Evonik recently held the "Sciencing the Global Food Challenge" press breakfast on March 9 at this year's VIV Asia show in Bangkok, Thailand. Providing sustainable animal nutrition based on scienced-based solutions was the main topic of the event, Gaetano Blanda, Evonik's head of Business Line Animal Nutrition, stated in his opening speech. "The greatest challenge (today) is to ensure food (availability)," he said.

The approach to sustainability in livestock production and feed formulations requires natural solutions — a view conspicuously expressed by ADM Animal Nutrition's Boon Kee Chew, vice-president of feed additives, ingredients and amino acids for the Asia-Pacific market. Along with demands for agriculture to be less impactful on the environment, antibiotic overuse and antimicrobial resistance have also become contemporaneous issues. Chew, who speaks to eFeedLink during the VIV Asia 2023 trade show in Bangkok, Thailand, prioritises holistic problem-solving to these challenges.

Each decision by Alltech is a chess move with a potentially strong impact on how the livestock and feed markets play out in the coming years. Some of these decisive developments are shared by Dr. Mark Lyons, Alltech's president and chief executive officer, during VIV Asia 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand. Along with Jonathan Forrest Wilson, the company's president of Asia Pacific, he presents Alltech as a versatile solution provider for agriculture.

VIV Asia 2023 marked a return to face-to-face meetings between industry players in the livestock and feed production sectors. The chance to gather onsite with customers again is very much welcomed by Erik Visser, chief executive officer of soy-based specialty ingredients company Hamlet Protein. He empahsises the importance of prioritising customers and the role of knowledge transfer in driving value for them.

In 1966, six large French agriculture cooperatives laid the foundations of CCPA, with a mission to develop innovation and knowledge in livestock nutrition and farming. "Since that time, our purpose has not changed, and our daily obsession is to bring to our customers nutritional solutions adapted to their needs in a fast-moving and competitive environment," says its chief executive officer, Francois Pellet.

As pig prices plummeted in November 2022, Hunan-listed company Keming Foods announced its acquisition of Xingjiang Muge Foods - a key development concerning Keming's venture into the pig industry. The company also increased its capital investment to obtain a controlling stake in Xingjiang Muge. Following the acquisition, Keming Foods will have an annual production capacity of 300,000 pigs.

Last January, Zhengbang Technology warned the company faced the risk of delisting. Back in November, the company announced that it would sell two pig farms located in Laibin, Guangxi, to Twins Group, the latest in the number of its assets being put on sale. Before these developments - and China's African swine fever outbreak in 2018 - Zhengbang once aimed to achieve a slaughter volume of 100 million pigs by 2020.

That the price of China's pigs has a fluctuating cycle every few years has become a common understanding. In Q3 2022, the price of pigs was still stable with an upward inclination. Entering the fourth quarter, the price of live pigs climbed from ¥‎24.65/kg to ¥‎28.80/kg by mid-October. Without warning, it plunged dramatically into a downward cycle.

A challenging economic environment - in conjunction with the gradual recovery of pork supply, which sent prices plummeting - severely impacted China's chicken production and consumption. The country's broiler slaughter volume decreased 4.09% in 2022 on-year, falling for a second straight year. Its per capita chicken consumption has also declined for two consecutive years. The decrease in chicken consumption is especially prominent in large cities, specifically, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

The country's poultry meat output totaled 23.8 million tonnes in 2021 — a year-on-year increase of 0.8% — while total poultry slaughtered was 15.74 billion birds, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. In 2021, 6.773 billion white feather broilers were slaughtered; Shandong, Liaoning, Fujian, Hebei and Jiangsu were the top five producing provinces.

Previously listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in July 2020, Fengxiang was the second-largest fully integrated white feather broiler producer in China in 2019, with a market share of 3.1%. However, the company, which was founded by Liu Xuejing in the early 1990s, changed hands after just two years of listing to the surprise of its founder and the market.

Thanks to China's huge population and rapid economic development over the past 40 years, the country's chicken production has consistently ranked second in the world. Its white feather broiler industry is identical to the Western model. Currently, only its hatching, feed production, commercial broiler and slaughterhouse operations are approaching or have met international standards.