FEFAC, the European Compound Feed Manufacturers’ Federation, says compound feed production in the EU-28 in 2013 reached an estimated level of 153.8 million tonnes, i.e. slightly less than in 2012, according to data provided by its members.

While pig feed production dropped by 1.7 per cent, cattle and poultry feed have seen their production grow by +0.8 and +0.6 per cent, respectively. As a consequence, poultry feed consolidated its position of leading segment of EU compound feed production slightly above pig feed.

The most important factors which have weighed on the EU feed demand in 2013 were the cool weather in spring, which impacted on availability of forages in a large number of countries and the still fragile economic situation of the pig sector, which, along with the implementation of the group-housing requirements for sows, affected the resilience of the pig production.

Among the largest producing countries, UK and Poland performed rather well, with annual growth of +5 and +3 per cent, respectively, while Germany and Italy remained stable and France, Spain, and The Netherlands saw their production fall by one per cent.

Germany strengthened its position as leading EU country in terms of total compound feed production before France and Spain shoulder to shoulder. The new EU Member State, Croatia, has seen its compound feed production falling by seven per cent from 635,000 tonnes in 2012 to 590,000 tonnes in 2013.

The final estimate and detailed breakdown of the 2013 results will be presented on the occasion of the 57th FEFAC General Assembly on 5 June 2014 in Liège.

Market Outlook for 2014

FEFAC market experts foresee a stabilisation in poultry feed production, a further reduction in pig feed production (-0.5 per cent) and a more significant reduction in cattle feed demand due to better expected weather conditions for grasslands and forages production (-1.0 per cent). Overall, this would lead to a one per cent decrease in compound feed production in 2014 from the 2013 total.

The general export-led market demand for livestock markets, mainly dairy products is improving while agricultural markets for grain and key protein ingredients have softened compared with the previous year.

This generally more favourable economic context, however, contrasts by the still very fragile economic situation in many livestock farm holdings in EU and political uncertainties linked to the situation in Ukraine and with regard to the impact of future free trade agreements both regarding tariff concessions for livestock imports to the EU and market access to raw materials.