Animal feed ingredients are micro-ingredients that improve the feed conversion ratio and overall animal performance. This study primarily focuses on assessing the growth opportunities for the animal feed ingredients, such as amino acids, enzymes, vitamins, organic acids, organic trace minerals, probiotics, prebiotics, omega-3 fatty acids, and antioxidants.
The rising demand for high-quality meat products across the world, particularly in developing economies, presents a significant opportunity for feed ingredient manufacturers. Rising population, growing economies, and increasing per capita income are some of the factors that boost the demand for feed additives. Changing regulatory policies in some of the key geographies, against the usage of antibiotics as growth promoters in animal feed, are expected to create lucrative opportunities for antibiotic alternatives during the forecast period.
The COVID-19 scenario has been considered in this analysis. The pandemic has resulted in a drop in the market growth of animal feed ingredients in 2020 because of the disruption of national and international supply chains, lower global meat demand caused by disrupted HORECA services, and lower consumer spending in most parts of the world. Though market growth is expected to recover in 2021 because of the vaccine, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the animal feed ingredient market is expected to be most intense in developing economies because of low purchasing power.
Amino acid dominates the feed ingredient market due to the important role of limiting amino acids in protein synthesis and growing environmental concerns regarding the use of crude protein in animal feed. Feed enzyme is another category that is gaining momentum worldwide. Feed enzymes are primarily used to improve the digestibility of animal feed. Growing awareness among livestock farmers of the advantages of incorporating enzymes is a key growth driver. With the phasing out of antibiotic growth promoters, the demand for alternatives, such as probiotics, prebiotics, organic acids, and organic trace minerals, is expected to create opportunities for manufacturers in this space.
The poultry and swine sectors are expected to witness the highest usage of feed ingredients, whereas growth in the ruminants sector is expected to demonstrate an upward trend due to changing farming practices. Aquaculture is expected to offer opportunities for disruption and innovation. Asia-Pacific is expected to witness the highest growth in terms of demand for various feed ingredients during the forecast period. Latin America is also expected to drive significant growth due to growing economies and an increase in the demand for meat products. North America is a key market for feed ingredients, with poultry being one of the primary end-use sectors. Europe, however, is expected to witness slow growth, as the market for feed additives is highly mature in the region. The competitive space is highly fragmented with a number of global and regional participants, while Chinese manufacturers offer stiff competition.
