Industrial Enzymes Market Trend – Assuring Feed Safety to Ensure Food Security
From the very first enzyme-assisted alcohol production through the processing of grains, where aspergillus strains had been employed, in Neolithic China, wine production at the site of Tepe in Neolithic Mesopotamia, the use of microorganism and malt in bread making by Egyptians to applications of enzymes that are based out of 20th-century inventions like organic synthesis, textiles, animal feed, enhanced application in food and beverage, in pharmaceuticals, in personal care, in molecular biology as well as biofuels, among others, industrial enzymes remain integral to the sustenance of consumption.
Besides advancements in chemicals and materials industry, scientific progress has precipitated many breakthroughs, one that is contextually pertinent is an increase in life expectancy and increase in birthrate. This is also a result of increasing access to education, which is resulting in enhanced earning capacity that further leads to the awareness of a healthy lifestyle. Further, the share of working women has increased too during the past few years, which has resulted in enhanced postnatal care as well as more health-conscious consumption during pregnancy. Thus, to surmise the aforementioned the population is expected to grow rapidly so is the rate of urbanization underscoring the importance of food security more than ever. While vegan oriented consumption has gained steam in the developed economies, meat and dairy-based consumption hasn’t been entirely abstained from and still are among the mainstay of the economies. Further, consumers in emerging economies as well as those of the developing economies are expected to consume more meat and dairy products during the next few years. According to FAO, the consumption of animal products is expected to rise by 70 % by 2050. This in turn will necessitate an increase in animal production, which will require an additional amount of feed to be produced to ensure sustainable production of safe and affordable animal proteins.
Projections of Poultry Meat Production, Developing Countries
In kt cwe (thousand tons at carcass weight equivalent)
Source: OECD-FAO
Moreover, according to FAO, the global meat products in 2020 is forast to drop by 333 million tons (carcass weight equivalent), 1.7 % lower than that of 2019. Further, a drop in global production of pig meat is also expected due to African swine fever (ASF) that is largely concentrated in Asian countries. Nevertheless, in contrast, the global production of poultry meat is expected to expand with a modest output growth that is predicted for ovine meat, international meat trade is estimated to grow by 37 million tons in 2020, a year-on-year increase by 2.4%. Further world milk production is estimated to grow by 0.8 % to 859 million tons. The main reasons contributing to this increase are expansion in production in Asia and North America, with moderate increases in Africa, Central America, Oceania, and the Caribbean. Moreover, farm modernization in China and the growing market share of dairy cooperatives through the means of products derived from milk in India are expected to sustain milk products leading to the growth in dairy production in Asia. Moreover, owing to a robust consumer and industrial demand, Mexico is expected to witness decent growth in milk output. The Russian Federation too is expected to witness an increase in milk output due to modern dairy farms.
Albeit the economic hardship, due to COVID-19 along with logistical bottlenecks and a sharp decline in demand from the food services sector due to lockdown measure resulting in a global downward draft in import, demand for meat and dairy is expected to climb after the world economy normalizes especial now that a myriad of COVID vaccines is in the trial phase. Thus, to sustain the supply of food and ensure food safety, feed safety is of paramount importance leading to the reinforcement of the cognizance of feed to be an integral part of the food chain. Thereby feed production is also subjected to an equal degree of quality assurance as is the case of food production.
Enzymes; Prepared Enzymes, N.E.S. (Exports)
In Thousands of US$
Source: International Trade Centre
Thus, regarding animal feed, mycotoxins are a perennial issue and are always present in the feed, to date hasn’t been able to successfully eliminated and in a normal scenario, it will be resorbed and taken up into the bloodstream of the livestock animal. To this extent, it is important to note that leading animal nutrition firm BIOMIN had reportedly reached a milestone in the EU registration of FUMzyme®, which is the only commercially available mycotoxin-deactivating enzyme, in July 2020. Further climate change is also responsible of creating an environment that is conducive to spread of Fusarium fungi, leading to a rise in fumonisin contamination of crops, making it a concern for dairy farmers as it leads to a significant reduction of average daily milk yield, reduce the digestibility of dry matter and leads to liver damage in dairy cows. In view of above the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) Panel on Additives and Products or Substances used in Animal Feed (FEEDAP) concluded that the aforesaid additive, when used at the minimum, recommended dose of 40 U/kg feed has the potential to degrade fumonisin in fermenting feed. Earlier FUMzyme® had received EU authorization for application in pig and poultry diets.
Besides the aforesaid, the have been notable developments that have reinforced animal feed industries share in the industrial enzyme market and facilitating a consequent increase in market share. The developments of 2018 are being elucidated below:
February – Joint Development Agreement
A joint development agreement for the development and commercialization of enzymes for animal feed applications was reportedly announced by Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) and Qingdao Vland Biotech Group Co., Ltd.Under the terms of the agreement, enzyme-producing strains will be shared by the companies, based on which feed enzymes development will be carried out, ultimately facilitating the objective of animal nutrition and health enhancement. Further, it was also agreed that products developed under the agreement will be commercialized by both companies
September – Product Launch
DSM (Euronext: DSM) world leader in animal nutrition and Novozymes A/S (Nasdaq Copenhagen: NZYM B) world leader in biological solutions had reportedly announced a new feed additive called Balancius™, which was the world’s first at the time of the launch to improve gut functionality for broiler chickens, acting as an enabler for broilers for a better nutrients uptake from the feed aiding in better growth, minimization of feed use and facilitating the production of 3% more food from the same amount of feed. This product not only cut costs for livestock management but also reportedly aids in a significant reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission.
November – Strategic Partnership
Kerry Inc’s (ISEQ: KRZ; LSE: KYGA) Kerry Animal Health & Nutrition and Agrivida, the Massachusetts-based biotechnology startup has reportedly announced a strategic partnership, providing Kerry with rights to promote Agrivida’s pioneering GRAINZYME® Phytase technology for poultry use for the U.S.A. market. This product was designed with the rationale to replace a fraction of the traditional corn that producers already feed their flocks, which would reportedly result in higher business profitability.
Therefore, from the aforementioned, it can be concluded that the need for food security requires assurance of food safety, among others, which in turn is poised to drive the need for feed safety. Moreover, with growing awareness of the negative externalities of animal husbandry on the environment coupled with the demand for high quality, affordable food as part of a healthy, balanced diet by consumers has led to the development of enhanced feed that is devoid of chemicals and is primarily derived naturally. Thereby leading to a higher demand for animal feed which in turn will facilitate healthy growth of industrial enzymes during the next few years.
