Animal Feed Industry in Sri Lanka

The animal feed industry is an old and established industry in Sri Lanka. With its roots running deep into the mid 20th century, the animal feed sector caters to the local demand and further exports certain types of animal feed as a trusted high-quality animal feed provider.

The industry is almost completely owned by private companies and the government’s involvement is limited to regulatory roles. With several legislations and policies established to regulate the industry and to ensure the quality of feed produced, the government plays a limited but central role in the animal feed industry.

The Origins of the Animal Feed Industry in Sri Lanka

The open economic policy introduced to the country in 1978 laid the foundation for the animal feed sector to mushroom in Sri Lanka. Upon the economic revisions, the Sri Lankan government introduced various tax benefits and encouraged the private sector to invest in local industries. Subsequently, the government entered a business partnership with Prima. Limited of Singapore in 1982 to commence feed milling in Sri Lanka, marking the beginning of the large-scale milling industry in the country. In 1983, a subsidiary of Prima (Limited) of Singapore emerged under the name Ceylon Grain Elevators (Limited) and started compounded feed production under the brand name “Prima®, thereby localizing the industry.

Prima was soon joined by two other multinational companies calling harbour in the local feed milling industry in the 1990s. By that time, the poultry industry in the country rapidly expanded and consequently led to an increase in demand for poultry feeds. Addressing this demand, Coin Feedmills, an Asian multinational company based in Singapore, started animal feed milling in Sri Lanka in 1993 under the brand name “Gold Coin®.” In the same year, Nutrena (Pvt) Ltd., a subsidiary company of Cargills Inc., USA joined the industry as the third large-scale feed miller in the country. Nutrena (Pvt) Ltd was however sold to the CIC Group of Companies in 2002, who continued feed milling under the brand name “CIC Feeds®.”

The Sri Lankan Animal Feed Industry Today

The animal feed industry thus established in Sri Lanka was later contributed by several other major animal feed producers. Today, the local animal feed sector is made of around 50 Department (DAPH) registered manufacturers with 30 animal feed manufacturers and 20 premix producers working alongside manifold non- registered self- mixers.

As research suggests, there is one registered large-scale animal feed manufacturer that produces more than 10,000 Metric Tons of animal feed a month. 4 manufacturers produce 5,000- 10,000 Metric Tons of animal feed a month as medium-scale manufacturers and the rest of registered manufactures fall into the small- scale category and each produces less than 5,000 MT of animal feed per month. (1)

The Sri Lankan animal feed industry caters to several species, producing poultry feed, cattle feed, swine feed, goat feed, etc. In 2017, Sri Lanka produced 678.19 thousand MT of poultry feed, 51.28 thousand MT of cattle feed, 1.14 thousand MT of swine feed, and 0.09 thousand MT of goat feed. As the statistics show, the local animal feed industry caters to the poultry industry for the most part and the poultry feed production in 2017 was 57.4% of the total animal feed production of the industry. The total feed production in 2017 including the production of premixes, self- mixers, and others was 1,182.47 thousand Metric Tons.

How Does Sri Lanka Produce Animal Feed?

Sri Lanka produces animal feed using premium-quality raw materials as ingredients. Major ingredients used include energy supplements, protein supplements, mineral supplements, and other additives.

In terms of energy supplements, maize, rice, and rice by-products such as broken rice, rice polish, and rice bran are used in the local animal feed production. Soya bean meal, fish meal, coconut meal, and sesame meal are used as main protein supplements. Di-Calcium Phosphate, Calcite, and Shell grit are added as mineral supplements.

These ingredients are both locally made and imported. For example, the local maize production was capable of serving only 20% of the requirement until 2005 and significant quantities of maize were imported to meet the industry requirement. However, the country became almost self-sufficient in maize by 2012, and the need for imported maize reduced significantly, though there seems to be a disparity between the maze production and demand in the years that followed.

The Quality of Sri Lankan Animal Feed

As the animal feed industry is monopolized by the private sector, the quality control of finished products and raw materials directly imported by feed millers themselves or sourced through local producers is done “at the feed mill using their laboratories and trial farms.”

Most Sri Lankan animal feed rations are produced according to the NRC standards and standards-based on local conditions. (2) For instance, the typical poultry feed formula adhered to by Sri Lankan feed producers contains 40% maize, 25% rice by-products, 20% soybean meal, 5% coconut meal, 5% fish meal, 3% minerals, and 2% additives.

At the same time, the industry functions under rigid rules and legislation intended to regulate, supervise and control the industry from end-to-end while also safeguarding the quality of animal feed produced and exported. The main legislative document on the animal feed sector is the Animal Feed Act No.15 of 1986 that concerns the registration of stakeholders, quality assurance of animal feed and feed ingredients, and monitoring and maintaining the standard of animal feed and feed ingredients. The other legislative reformations and documents relating to feeding production include Regulations to the Act (1996.04.25) and Amendments to the Animal Feed Act No.15 of 1986. All these legislative documents ensure that the animal feed distributed locally and exported worldwide is of the highest quality and contains the standard nutritional value.

Animal Feed Exports From Sri Lanka

According to research, Sri Lanka’s main animal feed export is poonac, the coconut residue left after expressing coconut oil from copra or fresh coconut. Poonac is mainly exported to Denmark. The poonac export has been going on throughout the years and around 10,000 Metric Tons of poonac were exported before 1966. The ban imposed on poonac exports in 1966 was lifted in 1981.

Similarly, rice bran has been exported from 1975 to Scandinavian countries and the highest exported amount of rice bran was recorded in 1976 with 21,127 Metric Tons of rice bran. Sri Lanka also exports oil cake alongside small quantities of plant residues and fodder. According to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade, Sri Lanka exported US$5.82 million worth of residues, wastes of the food industry, and animal fodder to Vietnam during 2020. (3) In addition, animal feed producers in the Indian market are another buyer of Sri Lankan feed exports, who, according to stakeholders, are major buyers of the Sri Lankan coconut residue market.”

Source Animal Feed from Sri Lanka >