Dublin, March 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Insect Feed Market - Growth, Trends and Forecasts (2020 - 2025)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global insect feed market was valued at USD 687.8 million in 2018 and is projected to reach a value of USD 1,396.4 million by 2024, registering a CAGR of 12% during the forecast period.

The insect feed sector, at present, has challenges, such as commercial-scale production, when compared to conventional animal feed products. As of 2018, Asia-Pacific dominated the global market and Europe is projected be the fastest-growing market in the years to come. In Asia-Pacific, the growing meat consumption compelled the demand for nutritious insect feed in recent years. Along with this, investments by the insect feed companies in the region have fueled the market growth.

In Europe, government initiatives, coupled with maintenance of vast poultry by the farmers, are projected to drive the revenue of the insect feed market during the forecast period.

As of 2018, by animal type, the aquaculture segment dominated the market with a share of 51.0%. Increasing demand for farmed fish across the world has led to a rise in prices of fishmeal and fish oil. Hence, insect feed serves as a viable protein rich option for aqua feed, thus, driving the market.

The market share analysis indicates that the market studied is highly fragmented. AlltechCoppens, Enterra Feed Corporation, Ynsect, Agroprotein, and Enviroflight, are some of the players who have emerged as the leading companies till date.

Key Market Trends

High Feed Conversion Ratio of Insects

The population on the earth is expected to increase to 9 billion by 2050. The growing population and increasing demand for protein rich food from livestock, poultry, and fish, pose as serious food security challenges for the future. Hence, the demand for production and consumption of edible insects is increasing pertaining to their high nutritional value and low risk of transmitting zoonotic diseases. Insects contain more protein and low fat compared to traditional meats, such as poultry and livestock. Hence, they can be produced for human consumption or as a protein source into feedstock mixtures. They also emit less greenhouse gases and ammonia than conventional livestock and can be grown on organic waste.

Insects are efficient in converting feed into protein, for instance, crickets need 12 times less feed than cattle, four times less feed than sheep, and half as much feed as pigs and broiler chickens to produce the same amount of protein.

The need for grain and protein feeds is likely to increase as the demand for meat is rising. For instance, livestock are fed about 6 kg of plant protein to get 1 kg of animal protein. Feed-to-meat conversion rates (Amount of feed needed to produce a 1 kg increase in weight) vary widely depending on the animal types and the production practices used. Typically, 1 kg of live animal weight in the US production system requires the respective amount of feed: 2.5 kg for chicken, 5 kg for pork, and 10 kg for beef, whereas, insects require much less feed. For instance, the production of 1 kg of live animal weight of crickets requires as little as 1.7 kg of feed. When these figures are adjusted for edible weight (usually the entire animal cannot be eaten), the advantage of eating insects becomes even greater.

Estimates show that up to 80% of a cricket is edible and digestible, compared with 55% for chicken and pigs, and 40% for cattle. Insects being cold blooded animals do not require energy to maintain their body temperature, and hence, require less feed. The high feed conversion ratio and high nutritional value of insects compared to the livestock and poultry may drive the growth of the insect market during the forecast period.

Increasing Insect Feed Consumption in the Asia-Pacific Region

The market for insect feed in the China was valued at USD 112.2 million in 2018, and it is estimated to reach USD 228.3 million by 2024, registering a CAGR of 11.9%, during the forecast period. China represents around 9% of the global meat import, which was valued at USD 113 billion (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 2018). Additionally, it is one of the largest buyers of meat, and it consumed around 65.6 million metric ton of pork, chicken, and beef in 2016. To meet the growing demand for nutritious meat in the country, livestock is being fed with protein-rich insects. This, in turn, has led to the development of the insect feed industry for livestock, such as poultry and swine, in China, thus, driving the overall insect feed market in the country.

Insect farming is a unique breeding industry in rural China and is a source of income for the local people. Social and scientific communities are working together to promote the use of insects as feed. The decline in the Chinese rural population to 40.8% in 2018 from 42.0% in 2017 led China to become an upper-middle-income-class country, thereby, improving their income levels (World Bank). The decrease in the rural population is thus increasing the income shares of the existing rural population, thus, driving the insect feed market in the country, as it is a major income source in the countryside.

Moreover, local Chinese companies, like Haocheng Mealworms Inc., Guangzhou Wuliang Biotechnology Co. Ltd, have been producing insect feed rather than relying on soybean imports from the United States for animal feed. This has decreased due to the US-china trade war. Moreover, recently, in 2019, a crop-eating pest damaged a lot of animal feed crops in the country. This has led the companies to develop new forms of insect feeds to provide protein-rich diet to livestock. Thus, owing to the growing meat consumption, the demand for nutritious insect feeding to animals has increased over the recent years. Along with this, investments by insect feed companies have fueled the insect feed market's revenue in the country.

Competitive Landscape

Globally, many companies are involved in the production of insect feed. Among these, few companies are into animal feed production. Most of the other companies concentrate only on insect feed production and primarily produce insect meal for animal and aqua feeding purpose. The larger part of these companies is in the European region. The main aim of insect feed manufacturing companies is to produce insect meal by feeding the insects on agriculture and food waste.

Alltech Coppens and Protix are the two leading insect feed manufacturers. Acquisitions, partnerships, and expansions are some of the important strategies adopted by the insect feed producing companies for their research support and marketing purposes. For instance, Enviroflight, AlltechCoppens, and Protix are the three companies that successfully adopted these strategies.

Key Topics Covered

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Market Definition
1.2 Key Findings of the Study

2. RESEARCH SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY
2.1 Study Deliverables
2.2 Study Assumptions
2.3 Research Methodology
2.4 Research Phases

3. MARKET DYNAMICS
3.1 Drivers
3.1.1 High Feed Conversion Ratio of Insects
3.1.2 Low Requirements for Production Area
3.1.3 Expectation of Government Approvals from Major Countries
3.2 Restraints
3.2.1 Acceptance Issues from Consumers
3.2.2 Lack of Sustainable Business Models

4. INDUSTRY ANALYSIS
4.1 Porter's Five Forces Analysis
4.1.1 Bargaining Power of Suppliers
4.1.2 Bargaining Power of Buyers
4.1.3 Threat of New Entrants
4.1.4 Threat of Substitutes
4.1.5 Competitive Rivalry

5. GLOBAL INSECT FEED MARKET SEGMENTATION
5.1 By Animal Type
5.1.1 Aquaculture
5.1.2 Poultry
5.1.3 Swine
5.1.4 Others
5.2 By Geography
5.2.1 North America
5.2.2 Asia-Pacific
5.2.3 Europe
5.2.4 Rest of the World

6. Competitive Landscape
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Market Share Analysis

7. Company Profiles
7.1 Multibox
7.2 Nextprotein
7.3 Enviroflight
7.4 AlltechCoppens
7.5 Protix
7.6 Innova Feed
7.7 Tiny Farms
7.8 Ynsect
7.9 Agriprotein
7.10 Enterra Feed Corporation
7.11 Hexafly
7.12 Entofood

8. Future of the Market

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/a7sgsr

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