Beef prices have risen for several years and are now beyond the reach of the middle class. Egg and chicken prices have also gone up. Whenever a product's price rises, a syndicate is usually blamed. But when the prices of animal protein (beef, chicken, eggs, farmed fish and milk) rise, small farmers first blame the abnormal price of animal feed.

Farmers claim that a handful of feed producers in the country are raising prices as they please. People in the sector say feed prices have risen by 54 per cent in the past year alone and by 137.19 per cent over six years. Unable to make a profit selling their products, many small farmers have closed their businesses.

Data from the past few years show that the small farmers' complaints are not baseless. For several years the prices of maize and soymeal, the main ingredients of poultry, livestock and fish feed, have been falling on the world market. Even at home, maize production has risen this year and its price is low.

According to the data, maize and soymeal make up more than 90 per cent of a kilogram of animal feed. Compared with the past few years, maize is Tk 6-8 a kg cheaper this year, selling at Tk 28 to 30 a kg. The price of imported soybean meal (soymeal) has also fallen, and several local companies are selling soymeal cheaper than before.

The Integrated Dairy Research Network (IDRN) says animal feed prices have risen 54 per cent in the past year alone, and have doubled over several years.

Feed prices in Bangladesh are abnormally high compared with neighbouring India and Pakistan. Layer chicken feed costs Tk 36 to 47 a kg in India, depending on type, and Tk 38 to 40 in Pakistan, but sells for Tk 57 to 59 in Bangladesh.

There are currently 294 feed mills registered with the Department of Livestock Services, but only about a dozen of them control the feed market. Many small feed mills have closed because of the syndicate of these factories.

Accusations keep pointing at the syndicate whenever prices rise, yet no government agency has clear information on what the price should actually be. The companies claim that producing one kg of broiler feed costs Tk 63.50, of which raw materials alone account for Tk 55.73. After packaging, transport, process loss, company profit and dealers' and sellers' commissions, it is sold to farmers at Tk 72.50.

The Bangladesh Poultry Association (BPA) calls this calculation a sleight of hand. The association recently submitted its own calculation of poultry feed prices to the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission, in which it put the raw material cost of broiler feed at a maximum of Tk 45 a kg. Adding other production costs, the companies' total cost is Tk 50, and with profit and marketing costs the reasonable price should be Tk 61.75.

BPA president Suman Howlader told Jago News: "There is no secret ingredient in poultry feed whose cost cannot be calculated. We have seen that one kg of broiler feed costs Tk 61 up to the point of marketing. A 50 kg bag of feed now costs Tk 3,600 on the market, which works out at Tk 72 a kg. By that count the companies are making Tk 11 a kg in extra profit."

"The companies make even more profit on layer feed," he said. "One kg of layer feed costs Tk 45 but sells for Tk 58. Farmers are being made to pay an extra Tk 13 a kg."

Suman Howlader added: "The costs the companies show are based on retail market prices for raw materials. But the companies buy thousands of tonnes of raw materials at a time, which makes their costs even lower."

There are similar complaints about feed prices in the livestock and fisheries sectors. People in the sector say companies are making abnormal profits on these feeds, as with poultry. The Bangladesh Dairy Farmers Association (BDFA) and other farmers' organisations have previously demanded lower feed prices. The BDFA says the average price of the six main animal feed products has risen by 137.19 per cent over six years.

The Directorate of National Consumers' Rights Protection had received various data and complaints about such anomalies in poultry, livestock and fish feed prices. It eventually asked the Ministry of Commerce to set a fair price for feed, and the ministry then instructed the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission.

Mahmudul Hasan, deputy chief (trade policy) of the commission, is overseeing the work, but the study is not yet complete. He told Jago News: "Work is under way on the instructions of the commerce ministry. The final report will be submitted to the ministry within a few weeks, which is why nothing can be disclosed now."

Although several government bodies set, monitor and control the prices of human food, nobody is there to curb the syndicate pulling the strings on animal feed prices. The job falls to the Department of Livestock Services, but it cannot be called very effective.

A source at the Trade and Tariff Commission hinted, however, that the report has found anomalies in feed prices. According to the source, the commission observed that feed prices in Bangladesh are abnormally high compared with neighbouring countries. The government gave the sector duty concessions to protect local industry, which has had a negative effect on the sector as a whole.

The report's observations reportedly say that feed prices keep rising despite excessive protection. Between 75 and 89 per cent of costs in the poultry, livestock and fisheries sectors go on buying feed, and importing such feed would make it much cheaper.

Small farmers, as always, point to a syndicate of producers for the rise in feed prices. They say these companies raise prices on their own from time to time, leaving small farmers in trouble, and they want the government to step in to set prices.

Farmers and others in the sector say a powerful feed syndicate is behind the price manipulation. Although there are many companies, a few control more than 80 per cent of the market, and in effect everyone is held hostage by them. They sometimes stockpile feed to create an artificial shortage and then raise prices as they wish. Once prices rise, they never come down. Feed prices were raised after the Covid pandemic on the pretext of higher raw material prices on the world market, but have still not been adjusted, even though raw material prices on the world market have fallen considerably.

Because of the rise in feed prices, the prices of traditional feed ingredients have also gone up. Wheat bran, rice bran, lentil husk, mustard oil cake, gram husk, mung husk, straw and broken rice have all been affected.

Mumin Hoque, a farmer in Akkelpur, Joypurhat, said: "I am having to close my farm because of feed prices. Only a few companies' feed is available on the market. One company raises its price first, and then all the others follow. In 2020 a bag of feed cost Tk 1,850 to 1,900. Now it costs Tk 3,500. At these prices many farmers like me have packed up."

Dr Biplob Kumar Roy, chief scientific officer and head of the Animal Production Research Division at the Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute (BLRI), told Jago News: "We really should look at what a fair price for feed is, because feed should not cost this much."

Dr Mst Parvin Mostari, a chief scientific officer in the same division, has worked on the costs of animal production. She told Jago News: "In a word, feed prices in this country are far too high. It is not reasonable for farmers. There is a feed syndicate in this country, a dishonest ring. That is why we are now forced to tell farmers to feed grass instead of concentrates. Farmers cannot survive because of feed prices. It has reached an unbearable level."

"The biggest obstacle to rearing livestock now is the price of feed," she said. "Because feed prices have risen, the prices of traditional animal feeds are also rising. As a result, many small farmers are being ruined."

This Jago News reporter contacted several officials at a number of large feed producers, but they declined to comment. Some cut the call on hearing the question; others hung up on some other pretext and did not answer later.

Finally, an official at one feed producer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "Although maize and soymeal are the main ingredients of poultry feed, there are others such as rice bran, canola meal, wheat flour and salt, and their prices have risen. The ingredients vary with the quality of the feed. Most of them are imported. The dollar has also become more expensive. That is why feed prices cannot be reduced."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.