Edible Insects for Animal Feed | Market Size, Share & Growth Report 2025-2033
The Edible Insects for Animal Feed Market Report is Segmented by Product Type (Mealworms, Crickets, Black Soldier Fly Larvae, Grasshoppers, and Silkworms), Application (Poultry Feed, Aquaculture Feed, Pet Food, Pig Feed, and Others), Distribution Channel (Online Stores, Pet Stores, Feed Stores, Veterinary Clinics, and Others), Ingredient Type (Black Soldier Fly Larvae Meal, Cricket Powder, Mealworm Protein, Grasshopper Flour, and Silkworm Pupae).
Edible Insects for Animal Feed Market
Market Analysis
How the market stands today, and what is shaping it
The global edible insects for animal feed market was estimated at approximately USD 620.0 million in 2025 and is projected to reach around USD 1.48 billion by 2033, representing a CAGR of approximately 11.50% during 2025-2033, based on Core Market Research estimates. The market consists principally of black soldier fly larvae reared on organic residues and sold as defatted protein meal, insect oil and whole dried larvae, with mealworm, cricket and grasshopper products occupying narrower outlets. Growth rests on substrate that costs little because it is waste, on rearing technology that holds density and temperature stable at plant scale, and on European Union authorisations that made insect proteins legal in aquaculture, poultry and pig feed. Expansion is constrained by a price gap to soybean meal and fishmeal, by heating costs in temperate rearing, and by repeated failures to build announced capacity. Competition now favours producers attached to an established processor or operating in a warm climate, which is the position held by Protix B.V., Darling Ingredients Inc. and Entobel. The judicial liquidation of Ynsect on 1 December 2025, after more than USD 600 million raised, is the clearest current signal of that selection.
Market Dynamics
Key market dynamics and their impact on the industry landscape
Market Drivers
- Black soldier fly larvae grow on organic residues that have no competing feed value, so the substrate costs little and diverts waste from disposal. Nutrition Technologies bioconverts several hundred tonnes of organic waste each week at its Johor site, turning a disposal liability into protein, oil and fertiliser from a single process.
- Rearing technology moved from batch trays to continuous climate-controlled systems that hold larval density and temperature stable. Darling Ingredients Inc. acquired full ownership of EnviroFlight LLC specifically for proprietary technology enabling black soldier fly rearing at scale, which is the engineering problem that separates a pilot from a plant.
- Regulation created the market rather than responding to it. The European Union authorised insect processed animal proteins for aquaculture feed from 1 July 2017 and extended that to poultry and pig feed through Commission Regulation (EU) 2021/1372, converting an unusable ingredient into a legal formulation input across three livestock sectors.
- Pet food pays a price that current production costs can meet, which bulk livestock feed does not. Ynsect pivoted towards pet food in 2023 for that reason. Novel protein status in hypoallergenic diets, rather than sustainability alone, is what lets a formulator justify the ingredient cost to a buyer.
- Large feed and protein companies have taken positions rather than leaving the sector to start-ups. Tyson Foods took a minority stake in Protix in 2023, ADM partnered InnovaFeed on United States development, and Darling Ingredients Inc. bought EnviroFlight outright. Incumbent balance sheets replace venture funding that has become scarce.
Market Challenges
- The sector's best-funded company failed. Ynsect entered judicial liquidation on 1 December 2025 after raising more than USD 600 million, having filed for protection proceedings in September 2024 and gone into administration in March 2025. Five insect farming companies have failed after roughly USD 777 million of investment.
- Insect meal is priced against soybean meal and fishmeal, commodities produced at a scale insect plants do not approach. Total European Union output of insect-derived feed ingredients stood at a few thousand tonnes against cumulative sector investment above EUR 1.5 billion, a ratio that shows how far unit costs remain from commodity parity.
- Announced capacity has repeatedly failed to be built. The Protix and Tyson Foods joint venture for up to 70,000 tonnes of live larvae equivalent was halted, and InnovaFeed suspended its United States pilot plant in August 2025 only eighteen months after opening. Industry projections of over 122,000 tonnes of European supply by 2025 were not met.
- Rearing in temperate climates carries a heating and ventilation load that warm-climate sites avoid, which is a structural cost disadvantage rather than an operational one. Protix responded by redirecting investment towards Asia, and the largest recent capacity additions have been in Vietnam and Malaysia rather than in Europe or North America.
- Only seven insect species are authorised in European Union feed: black soldier fly, house fly, yellow mealworm, lesser mealworm, house cricket, banded cricket and field cricket. A producer working with any other species has no European feed outlet, which narrows the technical options available for improving conversion efficiency.
Opportunities
- Brazil, Chile and Ecuador run large aquaculture and poultry sectors alongside abundant agricultural residues, and no industrial insect protein facility there has been documented at European or Southeast Asian scale. Regional production could serve those feed mills without the freight cost that imported insect meal carries.
- Insect frass is currently a secondary output sold as fertiliser, and the former Ynsect pilot facility near Dole has been redirected towards exactly that product under Keprea. Fertiliser revenue could improve plant economics materially if frass were valued as a co-product rather than as a residue.
- Commission Regulation (EU) 2021/1372 opened poultry and pig feed, tonnages far larger than aquaculture, but adoption has been limited by price rather than permission. Any production cost reduction that narrows the gap to soybean meal could unlock volumes that the regulation already allows.
- Warm-climate production in Southeast Asia has shown lower operating costs than temperate sites. Nutrition Technologies has described plans for several similar facilities across the region, and further sites in equatorial Africa or South Asia could extend that cost advantage if waste collection logistics can be organised locally.
Trends and Insights
Key market trends shaping the industry landscape
Capital is leaving start-ups for incumbents
High impactShort-termOwnership of insect protein capacity is shifting from venture-funded specialists to established feed and protein companies.
Insight: Darling Ingredients Inc. took full ownership of EnviroFlight, Tyson Foods bought into Protix and ADM partnered InnovaFeed, while Ynsect was liquidated after raising over USD 600 million. Balance sheet depth is replacing growth capital as the condition for survival.
Production is migrating to warm climates
High impactMid-termNew capacity is being sited in equatorial and tropical regions rather than in the European and North American markets it serves.
Insight: Protix stated it was refocusing investment towards Asia after cost and regulatory pressure in Europe and North America, and the largest dedicated plants now operate in Vietnam and Malaysia. Ambient temperature removes a heating cost that temperate rearing carries year round.
Pet food is subsidising the learning curve
High impactShort-termProducers are selling into pet food at prices that livestock feed has not matched, using that margin to fund scale-up.
Insight: Ynsect pivoted towards pet food in 2023 after bulk feed proved unprofitable, and whole dried larvae sell through pet stores at far higher prices per kilogram than meal sold to feed compounders. The strategy delays rather than resolves the commodity price problem.
Offtake contracts are replacing spot sales
Medium impactMid-termProducers are tying output to a single large processor before building capacity rather than selling into an open market.
Insight: Entobel committed 15,000 tonnes annually to Vinh Hoan across 2025 to 2027, linking insect meal directly to Vietnamese pangasius production. Contracted demand is what lenders and corporate investors now require before capital is released.
Co-products are being revalued
Medium impactMid-termInsect oil and frass are moving from residues to revenue lines that determine whether a plant is viable.
Insight: Nutrition Technologies markets protein, oil and organic fertiliser from one process, and the former Ynsect pilot site near Dole has been redirected under Keprea towards fertiliser from insect residues. Single-product economics have not supported the sector so far.
Segment Analysis
Market segmentation by product type, application, distribution channel, ingredient type
Black soldier fly larvae carry the overwhelming majority of commercial volume, because the species grows on low-grade organic waste rather than requiring feed-grade substrate. Protix, Entobel, Nutrition Technologies and the EnviroFlight business owned by Darling Ingredients all build on this species. Mealworms were the basis of Ynsect's mealworm plant, which closed when the company entered judicial liquidation in December 2025, and the failure of the largest mealworm producer has left that species with a much weaker commercial base. Crickets, grasshoppers and silkworms remain marginal in feed, since their rearing costs suit human food or speciality pet markets rather than bulk animal nutrition. Silkworm pupae are a by-product of silk reeling rather than a purpose-reared feed input.
Geography Analysis
Regional market analysis
Asia Pacific
Asia Pacific is where production capital is now being directed, after Protix stated it was refocusing investment towards Asia as cost and regulatory pressures weighed on European and North American expansion. Contracted insect protein offtake in the region rose from a stated 10,000 tonne annual capacity to a 15,000 tonne annual supply commitment for 2025 to 2027, a 50 percent increase in the volume moving through the regional feed market. Vietnam and Malaysia hold the largest dedicated plants, with Entobel operating in Vietnam and Nutrition Technologies running a 2.5 hectare site in Johor that bioconverts several hundred tonnes of organic waste weekly. Warm climates reduce the heating load that drives European operating costs.
North America
North America has seen the sharpest reversal. The Protix and Tyson Foods joint venture, announced in 2023 for up to 70,000 tonnes of live larvae equivalent annually, was halted before construction completed. InnovaFeed suspended its United States pilot plant in August 2025, eighteen months after opening, while continuing with ADM to prepare a later development phase. Darling Ingredients Inc. holds the most durable position, having acquired full ownership of EnviroFlight LLC, and it operates more than 260 facilities in over 15 countries processing about 15 percent of the world's animal agricultural by-products. Abundant low-cost soybean meal sets the price insect protein has to meet.
Latin America
Latin America has large aquaculture and poultry sectors in Brazil, Chile and Ecuador that would be the natural buyers of insect meal, and abundant agricultural residues that would be the natural substrate. No industrial-scale insect protein facility in the region has been documented at the capacity reported for European or Southeast Asian sites, and no regional market size, revenue or growth figure was identified from a statistical agency or trade body. The regional position therefore rests on documented absence of production capacity rather than on measured market value, and the region is presently a potential demand centre rather than a supplier.
Europe
Europe holds the regulatory base of this industry, having authorised insect processed animal proteins for aquaculture from 1 July 2017 and for poultry and pig feed under Commission Regulation (EU) 2021/1372. Cumulative investment in the European insect market rose past EUR 1.5 billion by December 2022, while total European Union output of insect-derived feed ingredients remained at a few thousand tonnes. Industry projections of over 122,000 tonnes of European supply by 2025 have not been matched by reported output. Protix operates at Bergen op Zoom in the Netherlands at around 15,000 tonnes of live larvae equivalent annually, and InnovaFeed runs French production, while Ynsect entered judicial liquidation in December 2025.
Middle East & Africa
Organic waste availability and warm ambient temperatures make the region technically suited to black soldier fly rearing, and several African ventures have been established around smallholder poultry and fish feed. No producer in the region has reported capacity comparable to the Vietnamese, Malaysian or Dutch plants, and no government agency publishes insect feed consumption or revenue data that would allow a regional market figure to be built. The position described here rests on documented facility absence and on climate suitability rather than on measured market value.
Competitive Landscape
Key players and market positioning analysis
This is a sector in which the competitive question has changed from who can scale fastest to who can survive. Ynsect, long described as the global leader, was placed in judicial liquidation on 1 December 2025 after raising more than USD 600 million, having suspended payments and filed for protection in September 2024 and entered administration in March 2025. Its former chief executive and co-founder acquired the pilot facility near Dole through a new venture, Keprea, redirected towards fertiliser rather than feed protein. Against that background, Protix B.V. is the leading dedicated producer. It operates at Bergen op Zoom in the Netherlands at around 15,000 tonnes of live larvae equivalent annually, and Tyson Foods took a minority investment in it during 2023. Its joint venture to build a United States plant for up to 70,000 tonnes of live larvae equivalent was halted, and the company has stated it is refocusing investment towards Asia. Darling Ingredients Inc. competes from a different position entirely. Insect protein is one line inside a rendering and by-product business running more than 260 facilities in over 15 countries, which processes about 15 percent of the world's animal agricultural by-products. It acquired the remaining 50 percent of EnviroFlight LLC to take full ownership. InnovaFeed holds French production and a United States partnership with ADM, although it suspended its American pilot plant in August 2025 eighteen months after opening. Entobel has built the strongest Asian position, with a stated 10,000 tonne annual protein capacity in Vietnam and a 15,000 tonne annual commitment to Vinh Hoan running from 2025 to 2027. Nutrition Technologies operates a 2.5 hectare Johor site built for about USD 7 million, employing 150 people and bioconverting several hundred tonnes of organic waste weekly into its Hi.Protein product, insect oil and fertiliser. It has raised roughly USD 34 million in total, including a USD 20 million round led by PTT Ventures. The pattern across all five is that companies attached to an incumbent processor or operating in a warm climate have continued, while standalone temperate producers dependent on growth capital have not.
Major Players
Leading companies in the market
Industry Developments
7 recorded developments
InnovaFeed suspended operations at its United States pilot plant in August 2025, eighteen months after opening, while stating with its partner ADM that it continued to prepare a later phase of United States development. The Protix and Tyson Foods joint venture facility was also halted, and Protix refocused investment towards Asia.
Ynsect was placed in judicial liquidation on 1 December 2025, having raised more than USD 600 million and having filed for protection proceedings in September 2024. Its former chief executive acquired the pilot facility near Dole through a new venture, Keprea, redirected towards fertiliser from insect residues.
Entobel expanded its collaboration with the Vietnamese seafood processor Vinh Hoan, with commitments described as 15,000 tonnes annually across 2025 to 2027, against a stated plant capacity of 10,000 tonnes of insect protein a year. The agreement tied insect meal supply directly to a pangasius producer.
Tyson Foods took a minority stake in Protix and announced a joint venture to build a United States insect ingredient facility with capacity for up to 70,000 tonnes of live larvae equivalent annually, converting 250,000 tonnes of waste. The investment placed a major meat processor behind insect ingredients for the first time.
Commission Regulation (EU) 2021/1372 extended the authorisation of insect-derived processed animal proteins to poultry and pig feed. The change opened poultry and pig rations, tonnages well above aquaculture, although adoption since 2021 has been limited by price rather than by the regulation.
Nutrition Technologies opened an industrial-scale black soldier fly plant in Johor, Malaysia, built for about USD 7 million across 2.5 hectares with 150 employees. The site bioconverts several hundred tonnes of organic waste each week into protein, oil and fertiliser.
The European Union authorised processed animal proteins derived from insects in aquaculture feed from 1 July 2017, restricted to seven species: black soldier fly, house fly, yellow mealworm, lesser mealworm, house cricket, banded cricket and field cricket. That authorisation created the first legal market for insect meal in European animal nutrition.
Table of Contents
13 comprehensive chapters
1.1 Market Definition
1.2 Scope of the Study
1.3 Research Objectives
2.1 Research Approach
2.2 Data Sources
2.3 Market Estimation Approach
2.4 Forecast Assumptions
2.5 Research Limitations
3.1 Market Overview
3.2 Market Size and Forecast
3.3 Key Findings
3.4 Market Structure
4.1 Market Drivers
4.2 Market Challenges
4.3 Market Opportunities
4.4 Market Trends and Insights
5.1 Market Segmentation Overview
5.2 By Product Type
5.3 By Application
5.4 By Distribution Channel
5.5 By Ingredient Type
6.1 Asia Pacific
6.2 North America
6.3 Latin America
6.4 Europe
6.5 Middle East & Africa
6.6 Regional Market Comparison
7.1 Industry Developments
7.2 Industry Timeline
8.1 Market Structure and Competitive Positioning
8.2 Major Players
8.3 Strategic Developments
8.4 Key Competitive Factors
9.1 Protix B.V.
9.2 Darling Ingredients Inc.
9.3 InnovaFeed
9.4 Entobel
9.5 Nutrition Technologies
10.1 Market Size and Growth Outlook
10.2 Regional Market Outlook
10.3 Future Market Trends
10.4 Key Risks to the Forecast
11.1 Growth Opportunities
11.2 Key Risks and Constraints
11.3 Strategic Considerations
13.1 Glossary of Terms
13.2 Abbreviations
13.3 Research References
Scope of the Report
Report coverage and methodology
Study Period
Base Year: 2025
Forecast Period: 2025 - 2033
Geographic Scope
Asia Pacific, North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East & Africa
Companies Covered
Protix B.V., Darling Ingredients Inc., InnovaFeed, Entobel + more
Data Sources
Primary research, industry interviews, regulatory filings, company reports
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about this report
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