(Yicai Global) Sept. 13 -- China has been reducing the amount of corn and soybean meal in animal feed to ensure food security, according to new figures.

The proportion of corn used in compound feed made by Chinese producers was 30.3 percent in July, versus 52 percent in 2017, a recent report from the China Feed Industry Association showed. The amount of soybean meal used was cut to 15.6 percent from 17.9 percent.

Livestock and poultry breeding has expanded in China in recent years as meat consumption and people’s incomes rise, leading to higher demand for feed grains. Last year, feed grains accounted for more than half of the country’s total grain consumption.

China’s food security lies in feed grains, Gao Yupeng, a professor at Northwest A&F University, told Yicai Global. It is difficult for the animal husbandry sector to feed livestock and poultry with Chinese grain, he added.

In domestic livestock and poultry feed, 65 percent is generally energy-giving ingredients, of which corn’s share is 50 percent to 55 percent, while protein ingredients account for about 30 percent, with soybean meal making up between 15 percent and 20 percent, according to Chen Shiyan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a professor at China Agricultural University.

In addition to concerns about food security, grain imports have remained high in recent years, with prices surging, so the Chinese aquaculture sector has been using less feed grains and finding substitutes.

Since 2018, China has promoted wheat, barley, sorghum, rice, and other cereals combined with additives such as enzyme preparations as a corn substitute and has popularized high-quality low-protein feed grains to replace soybean meal.

Chinese researchers are already studying low-soybean meal or soybean meal-free feed grains for pigs and chickens, which will greatly reduce the amount of protein ingredients used.

In 2020, China’s compound feed production rose by 30 million tons from 2019, but soybean imports remained flat, indicating that the promotion of low-protein feed grains was effective. Last year, compound feed production jumped by 42 million tons, and China’s output of meat and milk hit a record high, while soybean imports fell by 3.8 million tons.

Editor: Futura Costaglione