Indian Feed Production Rises 4.5%, Led by Layers and Dairy

Asia remained the world’s largest animal-feed region in 2025, producing 559.297 million metric tons (mt), according to the Alltech Agri-Food Outlook 2026. Within that story, India’s rise stands out. The country produced 57.729 million mt of compound feed, a 4.5% year-on-year increase from 55.243 million mt in 2024, and now ranks second in Asia after China and fourth globally.

China stayed well ahead at 330.063 million mt (+4.8%). The United States (267.383 million mt, –0.8%) and Brazil (89.904 million mt, +2.8%) completed the global top three. Together, the top 10 producing countries accounted for 65.2% of world feed output. Global production reached an estimated 1.44 billion mt, up 2.9% from 2024.

Dairy and Layers Drive India’s Gain

Two clear engines of growth.

Layer feed grew 4.4%. Egg consumption continues to climb on the back of greater protein awareness, relatively affordable prices, and wider distribution across urban and rural markets. That demand has kept layer placements and compound-feed offtake firm even when other protein chains faced cost pressure.

Dairy feed rose 6.8%. Milk output is still expanding, supported by government price incentives, herd-expansion programmes, better genetics and cross-breeding, and investments in infrastructure and cold storage. The industry emphasis is shifting from adding animals to raising productivity per animal — a change that typically lifts demand for balanced commercial rations rather than on-farm mixes.

These two segments explain why India’s 4.5% overall increase was among the stronger performances in the top 10, despite a year marked by high input costs and uneven livestock cycles elsewhere.

Growth Against a Volatile Backdrop

The Outlook’s wider theme is resilience under pressure. Survey responses from 142 countries and 38,837 feed mills listed production costs (raw materials, labour, energy), macroeconomic conditions, disease, climate shocks and geopolitics as the main constraints of 2025.

More than 80% of respondents reported some impact from geopolitical tension. Events most often cited were the Russia–Ukraine war, Red Sea shipping disruption and tariff risk. Those shocks transmitted into freight rates, ingredient availability and margin squeeze — especially in import-dependent markets. Alltech notes that growth in 2025 was less about simple herd expansion and more about structural change: a shift from on-farm mixing to commercial feed, efficiency gains, and better recording of industrial tonnage.

India’s feed increase sits inside that pattern. Commercial dairy and layer systems are deepening. That supports compound-feed volumes even when commodity markets are unsettled. At the same time, India remains exposed to the same global risks that affect maize, soybean meal and additive supply — a point relevant for equipment makers, premix suppliers and integrators serving the domestic poultry and dairy belts.

What the Ranking Means for the Sector

A 2.486 million mt increase in one year is material for mills, ingredient traders and livestock integrators. It also underlines why India is watched as a growth market for:

• Compound feed and premixes for organised dairy and layer farms
• Feed-mill capacity, pelleting and quality-control equipment
• Genetics, nutrition and cold-chain investment that raise feed conversion
• Protein demand from eggs and milk as incomes and distribution improve

China’s larger 4.8% jump still reflects a different scale and a continued move from on-farm concentrates into industrial complete feed. India’s story is more demand-led in dairy and eggs, with commercialisation still mid-journey.

Outlook

Alltech frames 2026 as a year in which volume alone will not define success. Profitability, disease control, supply-chain reliability and efficiency will matter more. For India, the 2025 data suggest that dairy intensification and layer demand can keep feed tonnage on an upward path — provided ingredient markets stay manageable and producers continue to switch from informal mixing to formulated feed.

Key Figures

Alltech Agri-Food Outlook 2026  •  Estimated compound-feed production, calendar 2025