Hominy Feed: Market Outlook
Hominy feed is used as a basic ingredient for feeds for dairy and beef cattle. Hominy feed is used mostly for ruminant diets as they are a high source of fats and proteins. Hominy feed is a by-product of the dry-corn milling process and represents about one-third of the starting corn quantity. It is made from corn kernels but contains more nutritional value than corns and has replaced corns in the animal feed.
Also, ethanol production industry from this is growing at a fast pace in the world and mostly in the USA. Hominy feed is a potential feedstock in ethanol production due to its high starch content. The demand for hominy feed will increase for ethanol production in the next 4-5 years.
Although hominy feed is a feed that is traded worldwide, it is a major commodity in developing countries due to its low cost-value. In developed countries, it is mostly mixed with other products.
High nutritional content has replaced Corn with Hominy feed as Livestock Feed
The shortage of energy content in the dairy ration has resulted in the limiting factor in the production of milk. It is a necessity for the lactating cattle to get essential energy content in their nutrition. Hominy feed even though obtained from the corn kernels, contains more nutritional content than that of corns. It has a high content of starch. This means that it contains a high content of fat and proteins and thus hominy feed is responsible for high gross energy added to the feed. This is due to its unprocessed nature and also less exposure to the heat that has kept the nutritional content intact. Also, it does not require to be ground and is palatable for the ruminants. The protein content is also more than the dried corn kernels. The corn can thus be replaced by the hominy feed in a very high proportion. These varied advantages of hominy feed have made it a suitable pre-ingredient to be added to a livestock feed especially for dairy and beef cattle.
Hominy Feed: Segmentation
On the basis of nature, the global Hominy feed market has been segmented as-
On the basis of end use, the global Hominy feed market has been segmented as-
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Livestock/Animal Feed
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Pet Food manufacturers
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Ethanol production
On the basis of distribution channel, the global Hominy feed market has been segmented as-
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Direct
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Indirect
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Dairy farms
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Specialty stores
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Online retailers
Hominy Feed: Key Market Participants
Some of the leading players of global Hominy feed market include Semo Milling, LLC, PV Sons Corn Milling Co. Pvt. Ltd, Granam American Grain Company, Bunge North America, Inc., LaBuddhe Group, Inc., Commodity Specialists Company, Sharifa Agrotech and Food Processing Pvt. Ltd., Dexterous Products Pvt. Ltd.
Hominy Feed: Activities by the participants
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Bunge North America, Inc. has acquired Grupo Minsa’s U.S. Corn Milling business to increase the production of the corn and the by-products such as hominy feed due to their increased demand all around the world. They also export their products to more than 40 countries.
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Sharifa Agrotech and Food Processing Pvt. Ltd. has exported to Qatar, UAE, Oman, Malaysia, Brunei, Cambodia & Angola and is now extending their export business of hominy feed to Europe and U.S.
Hominy Feed: Market Opportunities
A research was carried out on the extraction of corn oil from hominy feed. The result was compared with that of extraction of oil from maize. The results show that the corn oil production from hominy feed holds promise but for the oil yield to improve, further work needs to be done.
Also, studies conducted on the nutritional values of the hominy feed show that due to the low processing of the hominy feed and its less contact to heat, the protein value is way higher than the normal cornmeal. The hominy feed components – bran, degerminator fines, and germ nutritional protein sources and can be used for non-ruminant rations. One more study has shown that the incorporation of hominy feed into bakery products such as bread reduced their volumes but increases the shelf life.
Work on the usage of hominy feed in the non-ruminants ration has been going on for a long time due to its unprocessed nature and advantages to the consumers in gaining high nutrition in a healthier way.