News

Rising corn feed costs prompt increase in meat prices

Years ago, L.A. Adams would stop off at the grocery store on a whim and pick up some hamburger to toss on the grill. The price wasn’t much of a concern.

Not any more.

“Everything is going up,” said Adams, a 51-year-old from Des Moines who lives on disability payments.

• Continue reading • Comments (0) 24.05.2008. 13:21

Animal feed processors fight high raw material costs

The costs of imported raw materials for animal feed have continued to rise despite a Government move to eliminate import duties on the materials.
Dried soybeans and corn, two primary ingredients in animal feed, have posted record increases, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Breeding Department.

By December 2007, the price had increased by 80 percent to 7,700 VND per kg for dried soybeans and by 23 percent to 4,200 VND per kg for corn over the begining of 2007. The prices represented increased of 30-100 percent over 2006.

The nation annually imports 500-700,000 tonnes of corn for animal feed at a total cost of 135-185 million USD.

The department attributed increasing costs to surging world market prices and freight costs.

Viet Nam Feed Association Le Ba Lich said the animal feed industry lacked the capacity to develop domestic raw material sources and support industries. Domestic materials met only 68-70 percent of demand, with imports making up the rest.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van Tam said the state should permit foreign enterprises to invest directly in building raw material production capacity. The nation also needed to set up a commodities trading floor to stabilise prices and increase reserves of raw materials as a hedge against rising prices, Tam said.

• Comments (0) 26.01.2008. 04:14

LOL Purina Feed Honors Fond du Lac Livestock Specialist

A dairy and livestock specialist from Fond du Lac has been named the 2007 Land O'Lakes Purina Feed Rookie of the Year for the eastern corn-belt region. Darren Gilmore of United Cooperative was recognized with the honor. Rookie of the year is a special award given to a new salesperson that works to use the feeding program, in its entirety, within the previous 12 months.

Gilmore has an unusual background and interesting travel route that brought him to United Cooperative in Wisconsin. He has a dual nationality, Irish and English, and worked on his family's dairy farm in Ireland and a beef operation in England before earning his degree in biology. After serving four years in the British Royal Navy, he immigrated to the United States.

• Continue reading • Comments (0) 14.12.2007. 01:45

Ministry aims for lower animal feed prices

HA NOI — The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) continues to petition the Government for a reduction in import taxes on animal feed due to escalating world prices, said Department of Animal Husbandry director Hoang Kim Giao.

In MARD’s meeting discussing solutions to the problem of animal feed prices yesterday, the ministry made plans to convince the Government to allow foreign-invested companies in Viet Nam who import unprocessed materials for animal food processing to sell these materials to all processors. The current regulations allow them selling imported materials to distributors only.

• Continue reading • Comments (0) 14.12.2007. 01:43

Expert: '€4/hd more to offset feed costs'

Sheep farmers will need an additional €3-4/hd for lambs this spring to offset higher feed costs, Teagasc sheep specialist Michael McHugh has claimed.

Mr McHugh, who is head of the sheep advisory service with Teagasc, pointed out that feed is the single biggest variable cost in sheep production.

With meal charges predicted to increase by 35pc this winter, the Teagasc specialist said farmers would need a lamb price rise of 15c-20c/kg "just to stand still".

Speaking at a sheep meeting in Knocktopher, Co Kilkenny, Mr McHugh admitted that most sheep farmers were losing money from their farming enterprises.

However, he said research had shown that overall returns from a 200-ewe flock, excluding the single-farm payment, could vary by as much as €10,200.

• Continue reading • Comments (0) 11.12.2007. 01:17