Low input costs drag down animal feed prices
Several livestock feed producers are about to cut feed prices by VND160-200 per kilo owing to lower input material costs, and this trend will likely continue until end-June, the Vietnam Animal Feed Association reported.
The move is contrary to what happened in the same period last year, with the price steadily rising.
The association’s vice chair Pham Duc Binh forecast in the year’s first half feed price volatility will be inconsiderable compared to the year-ago period. The low prices of input materials since end-2011 have encouraged processors to buy a great volume of materials for stockpiling, he explained.
Besides, more abundant supply at home has offered feed manufacturers more choices as well as lessen their dependence on material imports, Binh noted.
“Now is harvest time of cassava and the winter-spring rice crop and many enterprises will use paddy as feedstock for animal feed production to enjoy lower prices,” said Binh. “Producers have found no reason to raise prices in the face of the current decline of material prices.”
Between February and March last year, the animal feed price experienced a surge of VND200-500 a kilo.
The association observed that the price had gone up following a decision by the Plant Protection Department under the Ministry of Agriculture at that time, requiring feed processors to re-export 45,000 tonnes of corn and soybean oil cakes back to India as the materials had been found infected with plant pests. This forced feed makers to import materials from America at higher prices, causing an unexpected price adjustment.
A couple of days ago, the department also requested some feed producers to re-export nearly 12,000 tonnes of input materials imported from India for being infected with Trogoderma granarium (TG). Nonetheless, chair Binh of the feed association asserted the re-export of TG-infected material since early this year had not been large enough to cause an input material price volatility like last year.
Category: Business
