Medicated Feed Additives Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2021 - 2026)

The usage of antibiotics in the food system is causing increasing concerns among the regulatory bodies in many countries. As early as 2006, the European Union banned the usage of antibiotics in animal feed. Since 2017, the United States Food & Drug Administration banned the use of antibiotics as animal feed supplements. With many countries and regions expected to follow suit, the focus has shifted to other additives that can help reduce the usage of antibiotics for livestock farming. 

Recently, in 2019, the Indian government banned the use of a “last hope” antibiotic on farms to try to halt the spread of some of the world’s most deadly superbugs, after a Bureau investigation revealed it was being widely used to fatten livestock. These bans are expected to increase the uptake of antibiotic alternatives, such as probiotics, organic acids, essential oils, prebiotics, immune support, epithelial support, an energy source, for improving meat quality and production. The increasingly stringent regulatory framework related to antibiotics and the increased efficacy of probiotics as a substitute is expected to be the major factors leading to the robust growth of the probiotics segment of the medicated feed additives market.

Feed production in Asia-Pacific suffered a minor setback in 2019, on account of the spread of the African Swine Fever, especially in China and Southeast Asian countries. However, the region remains the largest geographical segment in the medicated feed additives market. In 2018, the Chinese government launched a pilot program, aiming at the elimination of antibiotics use in the livestock feed by 2020. The implementation of this policy has been creating an impact on the feed industry in the country. Upgradation of feed formulations, such as raw material composition, for meeting the needs of animals at different growth stages, and feed production management, such as the need to upgrade the feed processing technology and drive the formulation change, are the crucial factors expected to affect the feed manufacturers in the country.

Furthermore, the ban on antibiotic use as growth promoters, cost-effectiveness, and increased awareness about harmful residual effect has resulted in herbal feed additive to gain importance in sustainable livestock production. The animal husbandry sector gets benefited from several feed additives such as ascorbic acid, prebiotic, probiotic, and herbal extracts.