Amino Acids

This report covers the major amino acids used in animal feed throughout the world:

• lysine
• methionine
• threonine
• tryptophan

Although the report discusses nonfeed uses, the main focus is on animal feed use. Lysine and methionine are the dominant amino acids used in animal feed, and recently, threonine and tryptophan (albeit at much lower volumes) have experienced high growth in animal feed use as a result of improved efficiency and reduced waste. The lysine market is almost twice the size of the methionine market, with methionine being more than 2.5 times the size of the threonine market. The market for tryptophan is significantly smaller.

The following pie charts show world consumption of the four major amino acids.

China continues to dominate as the world's largest lysine-producing region, accounting for about 65% of world lysine production capacity. In terms of global lysine consumption, China is the largest, accounting for 29% of the world total, followed by Western Europe with 21%. China will continue to have strong lysine growth at about 5% per year during 2011–2016 as a result of growth in the livestock and poultry sectors, using lysine to improve nutrient feed balance, and reducing nitrogen-content waste. Western European lysine consumption will grow at a rate of 3.7% annually in the next few years as the swine and broiler markets increase, along with increasing lysine concentration in feed. Growth will also depend on the prices of corn, soybean and lysine itself.

Only four main companies produce methionine worldwide. In addition, there are many minor methionine producers in China. The four major companies—Evonik Degussa, Novus International, Adisseo and Sumitomo—account for nearly 98% of world methionine capacity on a combined basis. In the United States and Western Europe, methionine consumption is expected to grow modestly at about 2% per year through 2016. Growth in the United States will be limited by uncertain economic recovery and its impact on all meat production and consumption. Furthermore, recent higher feed prices (due in part to drought) have resulted in lower livestock production. China will experience strong methionine consumption growth of 6% per year during 2011–2016 as a result of increased demand for meat and livestock products. Central and South America, which accounts for about 13% of world methionine consumption, will grow at a rate of over 4% per year mainly as a result of Brazil's large poultry industry and increased broiler consumption in the region.

China is the world's largest threonine producer and accounts for 58% of total capacity. In terms of threonine consumption, China is the world leader, with one-third of global threonine consumption. Western Europe accounts for 22%, and the United States for 14%. Chinese threonine consumption will continue to grow strongly at 5% annually as a result of the use of threonine to improve feed conversion efficiency and to reduce nitrogen excretion. In Western Europe, threonine use is expected to grow at almost 6% per year. In the United States, threonine consumption will increase at rates of 5–10% per year in the next few years. Threonine addition has led to better livestock growth and improved efficiency, as well as lowering waste.

The main tryptophan producer is Ajinomoto; the company is estimated to account for 20% of global tryptophan capacity. Western European tryptophan consumption is expected to grow very rapidly at a rate of almost 15% annually because of tryptophan's ability to improve pork quality, reduce nitrogen excretion, and optimize feed utilization. Chinese consumption will grow nearly 4% per year. The United States will also experience very high growth of almost 15%. Global tryptophan consumption growth is expected to be high at over 11% per year during 2011–2016.

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