244. Supply Chain Disruptions of Vitamins and Amino Acids Threaten Swine Production Efficiency.

Abstract Continuity of access to feed ingredients determines the viability of the United States (U.S.) feed and swine industries. Vitamins and amino acids (AA) are essential nutrients required by pigs and are routinely supplemented in swine diets. However, vitamin and AA supplements used in the U.S. are mainly sourced internationally, raising concerns about supply chain stability due to ongoing geopolitical tensions that may limit ingredient availability and impact swine productivity. A comprehensive assessment was conducted to evaluate the supply chain of vitamins and AA and quantify the potential impact of supply disruptions on U.S. swine production. Representative industry diets (RID) were formulated for market hogs and sows to estimate swine performance and productivity impacts. A 20% dietary shortage of vitamins and AA was used as a reference point to estimate key performance indicators under different percentages of supplementation, assuming a linear response. The U.S. has almost no production capacity for vitamins and limited capacity for AA, resulting in heavy reliance on imports. According to Comtrade data in 2024, China accounted for 99%, 87%, 89% and 64% of imported lysine, methionine, threonine and tryptophan, respectively. For vitamins (vitamins A, D, E, C and B vitamins collectively), U.S. vitamin imports originated from China had increased from 68.8% during 2015–2019 to 76.5% during 2020–2024. Under scenarios of reduced supplement availability, limiting supplemental B12 (56.7% dietary short) in market hog RID would increase time to market from 131 to 219 days and reduced meat yield from 98 to 40 kg per pig. Dietary lysine shortage of 27.8% would decrease market hog daily gain from 0.96 to 0.48 kg/d and reduce daily feed intake from 2.27 to 1.64 kg/d. Similarly, when sows were fed diets with restricted nutrients, such as supplemental vitamin E and lysine, performance, quantity and quality of piglets would be impaired. Diet reformulations were explored to balance dietary nutrients. Corn distillers dried grains with solubles and soybean meal were identified as primary ingredients to offset reduced AA availability, but these reformulations could increase diet cost. Although incorporating fish meal can provide B12 when supplemental B vitamins were restricted, this strategy could be practically and economically limited. Importantly, diet reformulations cannot completely balance all nutrient shortages resulting from supply disruptions. Vitamin D cannot be met by adjusting alternative feed ingredients alone. These findings emphasize the indispensable role of vitamin and AA supplementation in swine diets and highlight the vulnerability of swine production to disruptions in global supply chains. Heavy reliance on imports and limited supply sources threaten the long-term viability of the U.S. feed and swine industries.