Feed additive prices: Worse still to come
The Chinese electricity crisis has wreaked havoc on amino acid and vitamin production. Prices that were already trending higher, thanks to the international shipping issues, are now set to push even higher as stocks dwindle amid throttled output.
More pressure on amino acid supplies. In the August report, a couple of reasons that could potentially influence amino acid supplies and prices in the near future were flagged. Unfortunately, the situation has worsened since then.
Chinese prices on the rise.
Amino acid prices out of China seem to have reached a turning point. During the last three months, prices have come off the highs seen in the first half of this year, a welcome reprieve as this coincided with the relatively weaker rand, which minimised the impact to an extent. However, tough times are expected to return as the end of the year approaches.
AGP ban: What can we learn from China. On 1 July 2020, China banned antibiotic growth promoters (AGP) in feed. For years the Chinese government has pushed for less AGP to be used in feed to safeguard food production and limit antibiotic resistance in animal production. A year on, there are some lessons to be learned.
Freight rates: Still, they rise!
Global freight rates keep rising at an alarming rate, and there seems to be no end in sight … and yes, it is the fault of COVID-19.
Global pork production still under pressure
Global pork production is set to be lower than expected this year. Output will still grow; however, a combination of disease, high feed costs, lower efficiencies, and increased imports by China have tempered the expected growth in global production.
