CEH Report

Table of Contents

Abstract

Amino acids are the building blocks of protein and are vitally important components of all living organisms. Amino acids for protein formation can be obtained directly (as such) by living organisms from the proteins in their diets; some can also be synthesized in vivo by some organisms from nitrogenous and other chemicals in their food supply.

There are over forty known amino acids, about twenty of which are actually contained in animal tissues. Ten of these are commonly recognized as being “essential” for monogastric (single-stomached) animals such as humans, poultry and swine; that is, they must be included in the diets of these species. Of these ten, only methionine and lysine have historically had commercial markets substantial enough to justify their synthesis and manufacture in large volume by the chemical industry; well over 90% of both products is used to supplement feed rations for poultry and swine. In the last several years, however, increasing attention has been focused on tryptophan and threonine for feed use, with new production capacity resulting.

This report covers the major amino acids used in animal feed throughout the world: methionine, lysine, threonine and tryptophan. Although the report discusses nonfeed uses, the main focus is on animal feed use. Methionine and lysine 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 due to improved efficiency and reduced waste.

The following chart shows world consumption of the major amino acids by region:

Only four main companies produce methionine worldwide. In addition, there are more than a dozen minor methionine producers in China. The four companies—Evonik Degussa, Novus International, Adisseo and Sumitomo—together account for nearly 98% of world methionine capacity.

Lysine production is somewhat less concentrated on a global basis than is methionine. The top six producers account for 82% of capacity. China continues to dominate as the world’s largest lysine producing region, accounting for about 42% of the world’s lysine producing capacity.

The main producers of threonine are Ajinomoto, with 44% of total global production capacity, and Evonik Degussa (in Hungary and Slovakia), with 22% of the total. The world threonine market is expected to continue to grow at rapid rates from 2008 to 2013 (5–6% annually).

The main tryptophan producer is Ajinomoto; the company is estimated to account for about 70–80% of the world tryptophan market. The world tryptophan market is expected to continue to grow at a little over 1.5% per year from 2008 to 2013.