Vietnam to regulate feed industry

According to reports, the Vietnamese government will begin regulating animal feed costs. Domestic market prices for feed are 10% to 15% higher than in nearby countries.
The Viet Nam Feed Association claims costs are higher due to the need to import half of the raw materials needed in feed production. With no domestic competition, foreign companies charge higher prices.The association says the country imports 3.7 million tonnes of grain to produce feed. The industry is asking for government help to encourage investment in raw material production.

China’s Origin closer to using new corn gene

Origin Agritech, a Chinese seed producer, may get government go ahead in 2010 to sell corn engineered with a newly licensed gene, according to reports. The herbicide-tolerant corn would compete with Monsanto’s Roundup Ready crops.
The product is working its way through China’s approval chain, said Irving Kau, vice president of finance at Beijing-based Origin Agritech. The Ministry of Agriculture is expected to see the product soon, with final approval in late 2010 or 2011.
It is suggested the gene creates a crop that can withstand higher levels of glyphosate herbicide application.
China is reportedly the second-largest corn producer in the world, after the U.S.

How reduced cereal grain quality impacts feed

All grains produced locally in Saskatchewan, Canada this year are at risk for frost, and if not frost, sprouting because of the late harvest due to an exceptionally cool growing season. But feed grains that producers buy that may have been frozen, harvested immature or sprouted, may provide an opportunity as these crops can provide good feed quality for pigs, says Dr. Denise Beaulieu in Farmscape.
"Using and being on the lookout for low-quality grains is a good option for producers. Using byproducts and alternative crops is another way that they can decrease their feed costs," said Dr. Beaulieu, a research scientist with the Prairie Swine Center.
The scientist states that freezing and or sprouting of grains doesn't always decrease feed quality as such grains can be a very good source of both energy and protein for pigs. But that said, producers need to be looking for mould and mycotoxins, particularly if the grain is harvested immature or wet. As a result, she recommends that grain be tested.
One of the major challenges in using damaged grain, Dr. Beaulieu says, is that its digestibility is difficult to predict. "Looking at predictive equations will be something that we are looking at in our research to see if they are applicable to this year's crops," she says in the article.

DSM to open fourth feed plant in China

Netherlands-based Royal DSM N.V. will break ground for its fourth Chinese premix feed facility in Changchun, a major city in northeastern China, in May.
The new $5 million feed plant is expected to produce 25,000 metric tons of premix feed annually starting in December 2009, DSM spokeswoman Wang Ren told Feed International.
According to Wang, this feed factory will serve local farmers as well as animal feed producers in Jilin province, Liaoning province, Heilongjiang province and Inner Mongolia.
“Despite the economic depression, DSM takes an optimistic view of China, especially China’s premix feed market,” DSM China President, Jiang Weiming, said in a statement.
DSM's first Chinese premix feed plant was opened in 1997. Today, the company has three factories in Shanghai, Shandong province and Hunan province.