Future Outlook for India's Poultry Feed Market: Trends and Forecasts

Poultry feed refers to specially formulated food products consumed by various poultry animals, including chickens, ducks, geese, quails, and turkeys. These feeds are manufactured using several ingredients, such as wheat, rice, barley, oats, corn, millet, flax, milk, supplements, and fish oil. They are carefully selected and mixed to create a highly nutritious diet that is rich in water, proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins A and D, calcium, phosphorous, and riboflavin. Animal feed helps improve the health of poultry animals and enhances the quality of end products such as meat and eggs, which results in minimized costs, increased productivity, improved profitability, and enhanced food safety. In addition, they provide numerous benefits for poultry animals as they boost immunity, minimize stress, alleviate digestive issues, promote weight gain, strengthen bones, and prevent diseases and contamination, ensuring the safety of the food supply chain. Presently, poultry feed is easily available through online and offline distribution channels in India.

The Indian poultry feed market is primarily driven by the rising demand for poultry-based products such as eggs and meat among individuals. This can be attributed to their numerous health benefits, such as enhanced good cholesterol levels, a rich source of omega 3 and antioxidants and high in dietary sources of choline, essential for cell functioning, brain, and spinal cord development during pregnancy, and cognitive development in infants. Additionally, there is an increasing demand for high-quality and nutrient-rich poultry feed that is carefully formulated to maintain animal health and enhance the quality of poultry products like meat, milk, and eggs, which is contributing to the market growth.

Moreover, the changing dietary habits and the rising popularity of poultry-based dishes like chicken biryani, roast duck, turkey burger, egg salad, stews, noodles, prosciutto, risotto, and grilled quail are accelerating the product adoption rate. Besides this, government initiatives, such as animal husbandry infrastructure development fund (AHIDF) and the national livestock mission in India to promote poultry production, establish poultry feed plants, and support rural poultry entrepreneurship through financial incentives, represent another major growth-inducing factor.

Along with this, poultry feed is growing at different rates in numerous regions, with Maharashtra being the largest poultry feed market due to the increasing consumption of poultry-based products, escalating demand for poultry dishes, and increasing government initiatives. Apart from this, the industry is expected to face extreme competition in the coming years as various key players are implementing competitive strategies to sustain their presence in the market. For instance, in September 2021, Suguna Feeds launched their cattle feed variants, NutriBest and MilkyBest+, at their feed mill in Udumalpet, India, which are relatively cost-effective than most brands in the Indian market and offer higher quality. Moreover, in January 2022, eFeed, an Indian start-up, unveiled its plans to establish nutrition advisory centers in the northeastern districts of the country to promote sustainable and responsible animal husbandry practices in the region. Furthermore, the introduction of non-genetically modified organism (GMO) poultry feeds, which are nutrient-rich, cost-effective, and provide longer shelf-life with increased resistance to viruses, insects and diseases, is influencing the market growth. In line with this, the development of new poultry feed products with unique flavors such as clove, ginger, and sweet pepper that stimulate hunger is propelling the market growth. Other factors, including the easy availability of poultry feed on e-commerce platforms, ongoing research and development (R&D) activities for innovative feed formulations, and increasing awareness among poultry farmers about the importance of high-quality feed, are creating a positive market outlook across the country.