Global animal feed production down due to African Swine Fever

In its 2020 Global Feed Survey researcher Alltech estimated that total feed production dropped to 1.126 billion tonnes, down 1.07 per cent on the back of a 5.5pc decrease in the Asia Pacific region.

This has had an influence in the demand for feed grain from some of Australia's major grain customers in Asia, however due to the ongoing drought and a lack of grain this has not translated into a drop in Australian grain prices.

The data, from 145 countries and close to 30,000 feed mills found that demand from the poultry sector constituted 42pc of production, pigs 24pc and cattle, both dairy and beef 22pc.

Alltech said the poultry sector continued to go from strength to strength and accounted for most of the growth, along with the aquaculture and pet feed sectors

The top nine feed-producing countries were the US, China, Brazil, Russia, India, Mexico, Spain, Japan and Germany. Together, these countries produce 58pc of the world's feed production and contain 57pc of the world's feed mills.

By continent, North American feed production went up 1.6pc, South America 2.2pc, Africa 7.5pc and Europe remained virtually unchanged with growth of 0.2pc.

The big drop came in Asia / Pacific, down 5.5pc with large declines in pig feed production due to ASF.

China's feed production declined by almost 20 million tonnes of feed overall to 167.9 MMT as it fell from the top feed-producing country globally to second, behind the U.S.