China Animal Feed Market Overview, 2029

China is a thriving and rapidly expanding sector within the country's agricultural landscape. As the world's largest consumer and producer of livestock products, China's animal feed market plays a pivotal role in supporting the nation's growing demand for meat, dairy, eggs, and aquaculture. The need for high-quality and nutritious animal feed is immense. China's feed industry encompasses a wide range of feed products, including compound feeds, premixes, concentrates, and specialty feeds tailored to meet the specific nutritional requirements of various livestock species. The industry's development is driven by several factors, including a booming livestock sector, advancements in feed manufacturing technologies, increasing focus on feed safety and quality, growing environmental concerns, and government initiatives to promote sustainable agriculture. With a vast agricultural land base, abundant feed ingredient availability, and a rapidly expanding middle class demanding high-quality animal products, China's animal feed industry is poised for continued growth and innovation. Poultry feed by livestock type is highest in demand, driven by the demand for poultry meat products by consumers. The rising population further boosts the demand for poultry meat, but the rising feed prices hamper the market's growth. The Chinese government has implemented several policies and regulations to ensure the safety, quality, and sustainable development of the animal feed industry. These policies aim to protect animal health, promote environmental sustainability, enhance feed safety, and improve the overall efficiency of feed production. The Feed Safety Law, enacted in 2019, serves as the primary legislation governing the production, distribution, and use of animal feed in China. It establishes the legal framework for feed safety management, including feed ingredient approval, labeling requirements, quality control, and feed additive usage. Feed manufacturers and distributors in China are required to obtain proper registration and licenses to operate legally. These registrations ensure compliance with regulatory standards, quality control measures, and feed safety protocols.

According to the research report "China Animal Feed Market Overview, 2029," published by Bonafide Research, the China Animal Feed market is anticipated to grow at more than 3% CAGR from 2024 to 2029. The growing emphasis on animal welfare and sustainable farming practices is shaping the market's trajectory. Consumers are increasingly conscious about the origin and quality of animal products, leading to a higher demand for feed that prioritizes animal health and environmental sustainability. This trend aligns with the country's overall food security and sustainability goals. China has a massive and continuously expanding livestock sector, driven by increasing urbanization, rising incomes, and changing dietary preferences. The growing demand for meat, dairy, eggs, and aquaculture products fuels the need for animal feed to support the nutrition, health, and productivity of livestock. The expanding livestock sector is a major driver of the animal feed market in China. China is the world's largest consumer and producer of animal feed. The country's massive population, increasing urbanization, and growing demand for meat, dairy, and aquaculture products contribute to the size and significance of the animal feed market in China. The Chinese animal feed market has experienced rapid growth over the years. With the expansion of the livestock sector and the rising middle class demanding high-quality animal products, the demand for animal feed has increased substantially, driving market growth. China's animal feed industry presents significant export opportunities. The country exports a considerable amount of animal feed, including feed ingredients and compound feeds, to meet global demand. China's competitive pricing, vast production capacity, and expertise in feed manufacturing contribute to its export potential.

The China animal feed market can be segmented based on livestock species and feed sources. By livestock, the market is divided into cattle feed, poultry feed, pig feed, aqua feed, and others. Cattle feed includes feed for dairy cows and beef cattle, while poultry feed are for chickens, ducks, and other birds. Pig feed is for swine, and aqua feed is for fish and other aquatic animals. The others category encompasses feed for pets, horses, and other animals. By source, animal feed can be plant-based or animal-based. Plant-based feeds are derived from crops like corn, soybeans, wheat, and other grains. These feeds provide essential nutrients, energy, and fiber for livestock. Animal-based feeds, on the other hand, are made from animal products such as fishmeal, meat and bone meal, and blood meal. These feeds are rich in protein and other nutrients that promote animal growth and development. The demand for different types of animal feed in China is influenced by factors such as consumer preferences, government policies, and the prevalence of certain livestock species. For instance, the growing popularity of poultry products has led to an increase in the demand for poultry feed. Similarly, the recovery of the swine industry after the African Swine Fever outbreak has boosted the demand for pig feed. The aquaculture sector's expansion has also driven the growth of aqua feed in recent years.

Animal feed Pellets are made from corn, bean pulp, straw, rice husk, and other cereals and grains for different animals. They have comprehensive nutrition, improve digestibility of feed, decrease picky eaters of animals and are easy to store and transport. The pellets often contain grease as they provide oxidation and hydrolysis. Oxidation helps to convert unsaturated fats into saturated fats when the feed pellets have improper fats as it is easy to hydrolyse. The quality of pellets can be defined by the repeated handling, bagging, transportation, and storage feed lines without much damage or fine particles. The pellet quality and efficiency depend on the raw materials used, like corn and soy lack the ability to achieve good pellet quality, while that of wheat increases pellet durability because of high protein content and hemi-cellulose in contrast to corn and soy products.

Cereals by ingredient type are rich in starch content and are highly preferred to feed animals. Every grain or cereal varies in its nutritional content and digestive anatomy of the animal. Starch that is completely digested before the end of the small intestine (SI) provides the maximum amount of glucose from the grain to support growth. Barely, corn, oats, and rye are entirely used as animal feed and only small amounts are used for human consumption. These grains and cereals might be fed in whole or compound form, mixed with other bi-products or oils, minerals or vitamins to form a complete meal for animals. The produced cereals are stored after drying to reduce moisture levels and preserve them for the full year. Since some are seasonal grains, they need to be produced for the whole year and stored to meet the demands. Production is highly influenced by particular crop failures, droughts, or climatic conditions.



However, COVID-19 has caused some problems and changes in the feed industry, like many other industries, and the China feed industry is no exception. It had a negative impact due to disruptions in supply chain activities caused by global trade restrictions. A sharp drop in demand for restaurant meals and an increase in demand for grocery store food, combined with certain challenges in reorienting meat supply networks, resulted in a surge in retail meat prices and occasional grocery store stock-outs of specific meat products. Lower demand for cattle and supplies of beef and pork resulted from the drop in demand.


Considered in this report:
• Geography: China
• Base year: 2023
• Estimated year: 2024
• Forecast year: 2029

Aspects covered in this report
• China animal feed market with its value and forecast along with its segments
• Various drivers and challenges
• On-going trends and developments
• Top profiled companies
• Strategic recommendation

By Ingredient:
• Cereals
• By Products
• Cakes & Meal
• Supplements
• Others

By Livestock:
• Cattle Feed
• Poultry Feed
• Pig Feed
• Aqua Feed
• Others

By Form:
• Pellet
• Mash
• Crumbles
• Cubes and Cakes

By Source:
• Plant-based
• Animal-based

The approach of the report:
This report consists of a combined approach of primary as well as secondary research. Initially, secondary research was used to get an understanding of the market and listing out the companies that are present in the market. The secondary research consists of third party sources such as press releases, annual report of companies, analysing the government generated reports and databases. After gathering the data from secondary sources primary research was conducted by making telephonic interviews with the leading players about how the market is functioning and then conducted trade calls with dealers and distributors of the market. Post this we have started doing primary calls to consumers by equally segmenting consumers in regional aspects, tier aspects, age group, and gender. Once we have primary data with us we have started verifying the details obtained from secondary sources.

Intended audience
This report can be useful to industry consultants, manufacturers, suppliers, associations & organizations related to Animal Feed Industry, government bodies and other stakeholders to align their market-centric strategies. In addition to marketing & presentations, it will also increase competitive knowledge about the industry.