World meat industry news

Prices for feed for farm animals in 2023 will remain stable at the level of last year or may even decrease. Manufacturers interviewed by Veterinary and Life think so. Among the reasons, experts called the reduction in the cost of vitamins and raw materials.

“In general, there is a trend towards reducing the cost of feed production due to cheaper raw materials (and this is grain - wheat, barley, and so on) and vitamins. In the near future, prices for feed and premixes will either be stable or slightly decrease,” said Tamas Vizdak, Executive Director of Agrofid Rus LLC (a Hungarian company producing premixes), in an interview with ViZh. Tamas Vizdak drew attention to the fact that now grain prices in Europe are on average 2 times higher than in Russia.

In Russia, grain is becoming cheaper, which is reflected in the cost of feed production, agrees Arseniy Vlasov, general director of MegaMix Center LLC (compound feed manufacturer). The expert also draws attention to the fall in the cost of vitamins in Europe. “If we take some groups of vitamins, since the beginning of 2022, their cost has decreased by 3 times, despite forecasts of a multiple increase in prices for these products. At the end of last year, we saw deflation in all groups of vitamins,” the businessman said in an interview with ViZh. He explained that in Europe the demand for vitamins for animals is declining, as the consumption of meat in general is falling. “Consumption patterns are changing in Europe. All this puts pressure on the consumption and production of agricultural products. The European consumer can no longer afford as much meat as 2-3 years ago. Meat becomes a weekend staple because of the cost. Of course, this reduces the demand for vitamins for animals,” the expert commented.

According to the executive director of the National Feed Union, Sergei Mikhnyuk, feed prices are unlikely to go down, but will remain at the level of last year. “If we talk about the trend, then it will be the preservation of prices at the level of the previous year, without growth dynamics, and this will be caused primarily by a decrease in prices for feed components, which are more significant in percentage and monetary terms,” the head of the union explained to ViZh .

At the same time, experts are unanimous that we should not forget about the growing logistics costs. For example, manufacturers import vitamins from Europe and China. “The logistics component is quite high. If a year ago a truck delivery of 20 tons of cargo from Europe cost 2.5 thousand euros, now the minimum price for such a delivery is 5.5 thousand euros. That is, prices have doubled, of course, this is reflected in the cost of products, ”said Svetlana Alyabyeva, General Director of Mustang Feeding Technologies, in an interview with ViZh. At the same time, she also tends to believe that there is a tendency for prices to stabilize or even decrease in the feed market, taking into account the cost of raw materials.

Experts add that, among other things, it is necessary to take into account the seasonality factor and exchange rates, which will also affect the situation with prices in the feed market.