Survey and Analysis of China's Pig Creep Feed Market
Survey of China's Pig Creep Feed Market
In the 1980s, the use of creep feed began to rise abroad; in the 1990s, creep feed became fully widespread, and the weaning period for suckling piglets dropped all at once from more than 30 days to 21 days, which was hailed as a revolution in the pig farming industry.
In the late 1990s, creep feed was introduced into China. Only after 2002 did market cultivation and formulation technology gradually mature. Over the following 10 years, a group of enterprises specializing in creep feed grew rapidly, breaking the situation in which foreign-funded products prevailed, and making a positive contribution to the large-scale development of China's pig farming industry.
At present, the market coverage rate of creep feed is still not very satisfactory, at less than 20%, with an average gross profit of 20%-30%. This year, as raw material costs continue to rise and market competition intensifies, profits have declined even more sharply, and many creep feed enterprises are quietly complaining. Problems have also emerged in the creep feed market, such as large differences in product quality, lagging related marketing services, and cost-effectiveness not being fully reflected, all of which warrant vigilance.
Recently, the magazine Guangdong Feed, together with some well-known creep feed enterprises, discussed some hot topics in the creep feed market.
I. There Are Still 10 Years of Rapid Development
The development of creep feed is closely linked to the degree of large-scale development of the pig farming industry.
Because the various investments in large-scale pig farms are relatively large, in order to improve pig farming efficiency, early weaning of piglets is needed, which technically faces a problem - weaning stress. Solving weaning stress has two requirements: first, before weaning, the piglets' adaptability to weaning must be cultivated. The earliest trials have already proven that when the piglets' total feed intake before weaning reaches 800g, they can quickly adapt to artificial feed after weaning; second, after weaning, according to the digestive characteristics of piglets, protein raw materials and energy raw materials with high digestibility are also needed. Against this background, creep feed emerged accordingly.
Creep feed was also first introduced from abroad. As for the specific time, some estimate it was in the late 1980s, when large-scale pig farms such as Guangming Farm and Guangsanbao were already using it. However, the industry generally believes that the marker should be the event in which "in 1997 Taiwan, China's Anyou Group acted as agent for the creep feed of the American company Land O'Lakes, and subsequently introduced it into the Chinese mainland."
Before 2000, smallholder and free-range farming was the most important farming model in China, the large-scale development of live pigs was very slow, and the promotion of creep feed was not smooth. It was not until 2002, as the large-scale development of the pig farming industry accelerated, that the creep feed market also entered a period of rapid growth. Over the following 10 years, a group of professional creep feed enterprises seized market opportunities and grew rapidly, such as Jinxinnong, Yingwei, Anyou, and Guangxi Guilong. On the contrary, some foreign-funded brands slowed down in development, such as Purina and Belgium's Dicave.
Although creep feed has had a history of more than ten years since entering China, the vast majority of farmers still have not truly accepted "creep feed." Based on China's live pig slaughter volume of 700 million last year, and calculating 2.5 kilograms of creep feed used per pig, the theoretical demand for creep feed is 1.75 million tons, while last year's actual sales of creep feed were less than 300,000 tons, and the overall market coverage rate was still less than 20%. Correspondingly, creep feed in Europe is already a necessity, with a coverage rate of at least 90%. Our province, as a place where domestic large-scale farming is relatively developed, still has only 50% of farmers using it (consuming 70% of the country's creep feed).
Some industry insiders assert that the creep feed market still has at least 10 years of rapid development ahead. There are three detailed reasons: first, this year the piglet diarrhea problem has been relatively serious, showing a relatively high incidence rate and mortality rate, causing relatively large economic losses to pig farmers. In order to raise pigs well, some farmers who previously did not use creep feed will pay more attention to early-stage investment and become new users of creep feed enterprises. Second, after weaning, piglets must be fed creep feed for at least two weeks. Based on an average daily feed intake of 300g, piglets must eat at least 4-5kg of creep feed, while the current feeding period is only 5-7 days, and the feeding amount is mostly around 2kg. If farmers deepen their understanding of creep feed, then its demand will increase. Third, the pig farming industry is encountering increasingly serious environmental protection problems, operating costs are climbing repeatedly, and efficient farming will become the mainstream of the industry. Efficient pig farming requires the use of creep feed, which meets the development requirements of this era.
Perhaps it is precisely because of full confidence in the development of creep feed that some enterprises have clearly stated they will increase investment in creep feed. For example, in the next 2-3 years, Jinxinnong will make creep feed its core and strive to reach 100,000 tons. Dabeinong also plans to build a production line with an annual capacity of 80,000 tons of creep feed. Moreover, in order to drive subsequent products into large-scale pig farms, some large feed enterprise groups are also interested in entering the creep feed market. This cannot help but make people feel anxious about future competition in the creep feed market, but Jinxinnong Chairman Chen Junhai believes that in the future creep feed market, it will definitely still be a small number of enterprises doing it, and professional companies will have greater development potential. Because the creep feed market is at most only 8 billion yuan, the market scale is too small; moreover, the production, raw material procurement, and research and development of creep feed are all very specialized, and doing it well may require paying a very high price. By contrast, the entire pig feed market is at least 200 billion yuan, and what many large factories are actually aiming at is still this segment.|||
In the late 1990s, creep feed was introduced into China. Only after 2002 did market cultivation and formulation technology gradually mature. Over the following 10 years, a group of enterprises specializing in creep feed grew rapidly, breaking the situation in which foreign-funded products prevailed, and making a positive contribution to the large-scale development of China's pig farming industry.
At present, the market coverage rate of creep feed is still not very satisfactory, at less than 20%, with an average gross profit of 20%-30%. This year, as raw material costs continue to rise and market competition intensifies, profits have declined even more sharply, and many creep feed enterprises are quietly complaining. Problems have also emerged in the creep feed market, such as large differences in product quality, lagging related marketing services, and cost-effectiveness not being fully reflected, all of which warrant vigilance.
Recently, the magazine Guangdong Feed, together with some well-known creep feed enterprises, discussed some hot topics in the creep feed market.
I. There Are Still 10 Years of Rapid Development
The development of creep feed is closely linked to the degree of large-scale development of the pig farming industry.
Because the various investments in large-scale pig farms are relatively large, in order to improve pig farming efficiency, early weaning of piglets is needed, which technically faces a problem - weaning stress. Solving weaning stress has two requirements: first, before weaning, the piglets' adaptability to weaning must be cultivated. The earliest trials have already proven that when the piglets' total feed intake before weaning reaches 800g, they can quickly adapt to artificial feed after weaning; second, after weaning, according to the digestive characteristics of piglets, protein raw materials and energy raw materials with high digestibility are also needed. Against this background, creep feed emerged accordingly.
Creep feed was also first introduced from abroad. As for the specific time, some estimate it was in the late 1980s, when large-scale pig farms such as Guangming Farm and Guangsanbao were already using it. However, the industry generally believes that the marker should be the event in which "in 1997 Taiwan, China's Anyou Group acted as agent for the creep feed of the American company Land O'Lakes, and subsequently introduced it into the Chinese mainland."
Before 2000, smallholder and free-range farming was the most important farming model in China, the large-scale development of live pigs was very slow, and the promotion of creep feed was not smooth. It was not until 2002, as the large-scale development of the pig farming industry accelerated, that the creep feed market also entered a period of rapid growth. Over the following 10 years, a group of professional creep feed enterprises seized market opportunities and grew rapidly, such as Jinxinnong, Yingwei, Anyou, and Guangxi Guilong. On the contrary, some foreign-funded brands slowed down in development, such as Purina and Belgium's Dicave.
Although creep feed has had a history of more than ten years since entering China, the vast majority of farmers still have not truly accepted "creep feed." Based on China's live pig slaughter volume of 700 million last year, and calculating 2.5 kilograms of creep feed used per pig, the theoretical demand for creep feed is 1.75 million tons, while last year's actual sales of creep feed were less than 300,000 tons, and the overall market coverage rate was still less than 20%. Correspondingly, creep feed in Europe is already a necessity, with a coverage rate of at least 90%. Our province, as a place where domestic large-scale farming is relatively developed, still has only 50% of farmers using it (consuming 70% of the country's creep feed).
Some industry insiders assert that the creep feed market still has at least 10 years of rapid development ahead. There are three detailed reasons: first, this year the piglet diarrhea problem has been relatively serious, showing a relatively high incidence rate and mortality rate, causing relatively large economic losses to pig farmers. In order to raise pigs well, some farmers who previously did not use creep feed will pay more attention to early-stage investment and become new users of creep feed enterprises. Second, after weaning, piglets must be fed creep feed for at least two weeks. Based on an average daily feed intake of 300g, piglets must eat at least 4-5kg of creep feed, while the current feeding period is only 5-7 days, and the feeding amount is mostly around 2kg. If farmers deepen their understanding of creep feed, then its demand will increase. Third, the pig farming industry is encountering increasingly serious environmental protection problems, operating costs are climbing repeatedly, and efficient farming will become the mainstream of the industry. Efficient pig farming requires the use of creep feed, which meets the development requirements of this era.
Perhaps it is precisely because of full confidence in the development of creep feed that some enterprises have clearly stated they will increase investment in creep feed. For example, in the next 2-3 years, Jinxinnong will make creep feed its core and strive to reach 100,000 tons. Dabeinong also plans to build a production line with an annual capacity of 80,000 tons of creep feed. Moreover, in order to drive subsequent products into large-scale pig farms, some large feed enterprise groups are also interested in entering the creep feed market. This cannot help but make people feel anxious about future competition in the creep feed market, but Jinxinnong Chairman Chen Junhai believes that in the future creep feed market, it will definitely still be a small number of enterprises doing it, and professional companies will have greater development potential. Because the creep feed market is at most only 8 billion yuan, the market scale is too small; moreover, the production, raw material procurement, and research and development of creep feed are all very specialized, and doing it well may require paying a very high price. By contrast, the entire pig feed market is at least 200 billion yuan, and what many large factories are actually aiming at is still this segment.|||