New data confirms an alarming need for the US feed sector to boost its independence on imported vitamins and amino acids.
The Institute for Feed Education and Research (IFEEDER) of the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) has just published a new report called “Strategic Assessment on the Impact of Vitamin and Amino Acid Supply Chain Disruptions on US Food Security.”
Industry fears confirmed
During a virtual press conference just before the study’s release in mid-November, AFIA President & CEO Constance Cullman noted that the results “confirm what many of us in the feed industry have long suspected, but now we have the data to back it up. The study clearly shows how dependent the US has become on a single foreign source, China, for essential vitamins and amino acids that we use to support animal health and food production.”
Heavy reliance exposed
Indeed, using data from 2020 to 2024, the report authors found that the US relies on China for 78% of total vitamin imports and 62% of global amino acid production (for pet foods, livestock feed and human supplements and pharmaceutical products). For some vitamins such as biotin, China produces 100% of the global supply.
Production below full capacity
Added to this is the fact that global supply of these ingredients has exceeded demand in recent years. At the production plant level, this means that for all of the studied amino acids and vitamins, plants are at most running at 75% of production capacity.
Cullman noted that this situation “is not simply an economic issue.”
National security concerns
“We view it as a question of resilience, preparedness and ultimately, national security. For years, we’ve been cautioning that China’s dominance in this market create significant risks. What we learned with this research is that dominance is growing. China’s capacity far exceeds global demand, and in the process, US and other international manufacturers have been pushed out of the market. As a result of that, our supply chain has become far too concentrated and far too vulnerable to disruption.”
The research, done by IFEEDER in collaboration with 2 research firms, Decision Innovation Solutions and Lobo Consulting, assessed publicly-available data on global vitamin and amino acid production, US import and export quantities and utilisation rates in domestic livestock diets. The researchers also applied some diet modification strategies to evaluate whether alternative feed ingredients could partially compensate for limited vitamin and amino acid supplementation in case of sourcing disruption.
But while the authors found that, in some instances, farmers could modify animal diets to mitigate the impacts of reduced vitamins or amino acids in the diets of various livestock, this would not fully resolve the negative animal health and welfare and production efficiency consequences that would result.
Methionine shortage example
During the virtual press conference, the example of methionine in broilers was highlighted. As illustrated in the chart below, we can see that the vast majority – about 87% – of the required amount of this amino acid in US livestock production was imported from China in 2024.
If a broiler chicken receives all the needed methionine (from feedstuffs and supplementation), the broiler will reach the usual market weight in 47 days. However, if a supply chain disruption occurs and the bird gets only 20% of the supplementation required, the growth rate slows and time to market increases to 62 days. Even at that point, the bird does not reach the usual market weight and breast meat yield is substantially lower. Total feed costs also increase substantially.
Growing Chinese capacity
Philip Lobo, President of Lobo Consulting, noted another angle. In 2023, Chinese production capacity of methionine was only was 20% of world capacity, but as of June 2025, its estimated to be 32% – and Chinese production is expected to continue to grow.
“So we see then…where previously we had a lot of diversity in [sources of production for] methionine…we see that starting to shift,” he explained. “And then we also saw that show up in the pricing. When we look at the unit price of methionine coming from China through 2023, it was fairly competitive, but in 2024….suddenly the Chinese price of methionine is 55% less than our top 4 [domestic] suppliers…That makes methionine a concern.” That is, if Chinese methionine is less than half the price of domestic methionine, it’s hard to convince the industry not to buy the imports, and dependency on imports will continue and may grow.
Yes, the broiler diet can be modified, Lobo notes, but palatability is a concern. “As we created alternative diets, we looked at levels of methionine into various products, and we did not take into account the impacts on palatability because that would take significant analysis of feed studies and other things, but we do know, for example, that there are limits on how much Dried Distillers Grains (DDGs) you can put into a diet and still have it be palatable. It affects other aspects of feed intake also.”
Blood meal and fish meal, which are relatively rich in methionine, could be added in the instance of a methionine shortage, but the result is similar. “Besides being quite expensive compared to the ingredients they’re replacing,” Lobo explained, “when you increase significantly the amount of fish meal in a diet, there is a direct negative correlation to palatability.”
Vitamin A challenges
Looking at a second example of vitamin A in turkey production, the amount of corn can be reduced and all wheat middlings removed to make room for alfalfa meal and/or gluten meal. However, “this can again have cost impacts,” said Lobo. “Not as significant as the methionine space, but the margins are tight in animal production, and particularly around feed. And so shifts in feed, small shifts in cost, can be very impactful to the industry.” He also noted that alternative ingredient supplies are limited.
Industry pushing for action
Ultimately, the AFIA is pleased that the study results now empower the US feed industry to move forward decisively.
“We are now empowered to work with the US government to create sound policy, and our members now also have a little bit more information to make business decisions,” Cullman noted. “So we have to move from concern about this particular issue to some sort of coordinated action on it. We’re encouraged that we have ongoing conversations with the White House and other agencies.”
She adds, “we really look at this report as a mechanism to be able to inform policy making, take these facts, turn them into action, and figure out a way with government and with the private sector, how to create a more resilient and transparent supply chain,” she stated. “We can now figure out how to promote risk-based, science-driven policy, and how to create the right environment for US manufacturing to thrive.”
