Feed mill cost per tonne: what a mill costs to build and to run.
On a fully installed basis — equipment, civils, silos, steam and automation — feed mill capex runs roughly USD 98–237 per annual tonne of capacity at 2 t/h, USD 86–207 at 5 t/h, USD 79–196 at 10 t/h and USD 77–186 at 20 t/h, using one 8-hour shift over 300 days at 85% effective utilisation. Running cost excluding raw materials, the figure most buyers actually need, lands at USD 16–45 per tonne of pelleted, bagged feed. Utilisation moves both numbers more than any single price input: a mill running at 40% of nameplate carries roughly double the fixed cost per tonne of the same mill at 80%.
- Installed capex USD 77–237 per annual tonne
- Itemised bands for 2, 5, 10 and 20 t/h
- Conversion cost USD 16–45 per tonne
- Mash-only saves 40–50% of equipment cost
Visual scope of feed mill economics
Short answer
On a fully installed basis — equipment, civils, silos, steam and automation — feed mill capex runs roughly USD 98–237 per annual tonne of capacity at 2 t/h, USD 86–207 at 5 t/h, USD 79–196 at 10 t/h and USD 77–186 at 20 t/h, using one 8-hour shift over 300 days at 85% effective utilisation. Running cost excluding raw materials, the figure most buyers actually need, lands at USD 16–45 per tonne of pelleted, bagged feed. Utilisation moves both numbers more than any single price input: a mill running at 40% of nameplate carries roughly double the fixed cost per tonne of the same mill at 80%.
Two different costs are called 'cost per tonne'
Buyers and lenders use the same phrase for two unrelated numbers, and quotations get compared across them constantly. The first is capital cost per annual tonne of capacity — total installed investment divided by the tonnes the mill can produce in a year — which is what a feasibility study and a bank term sheet run on. The second is conversion cost per tonne produced: the electricity, steam, labour, wear parts, packaging, shrinkage and QC needed to turn raw materials into finished feed, excluding the ingredients themselves. A mill can look expensive on the first and cheap on the second, which is exactly what a well-automated, well-utilised plant looks like. Establish which number a supplier or consultant is quoting before you compare anything.
What actually moves the capex band
Inside each capacity band the spread is wide, and it is not random. Four variables account for most of it. Civil works and steel move most by country — piling requirements, local construction rates and tower height can shift the building line by a factor of two. Silo capacity is costed on days of ingredient cover, not on mill size, so an import-dependent site needing 30–45 days carries a far heavier silo bill than a mill next to a grain belt running on 7–10. Pelleting versus mash decides whether the conditioner, press, cooler, crumbler, sifter and boiler exist at all — removing them cuts equipment cost by roughly 40–50%. And erection, commissioning and training, typically 12–18% of equipment FOB value, is the line most often under-budgeted and the one whose shortfall turns a late project into a bad one.
Utilisation, not equipment price, decides the economics
The single most common error in feed-mill business cases is dividing capex by nameplate capacity instead of realistic output. Recipe changeovers, flushing between medicated and non-medicated batches, cleaning, short stops and demand seasonality mean no mill produces at nameplate for a full shift. Planning at 85% effective utilisation of the shift hours you will genuinely run is the conservative basis most lenders accept. Buying a machine 20% larger than the arithmetic suggests almost always costs less than the alternative, because the marginal cost of capacity falls with size — that is why the per-annual-tonne band tightens from USD 98–237 at 2 t/h to USD 77–186 at 20 t/h.
The cost that dwarfs both: working capital
Once the mill runs, raw materials dominate the cash requirement, and it is routinely omitted from the investment case. Budget the value of your planned days of ingredient cover plus one payment cycle of finished-feed receivables. For a 10 t/h mill holding 30 days of cover, that requirement is frequently larger than the annual depreciation on the entire plant. A project that is fully funded on capex and thin on working capital ends up buying ingredients in small, expensive parcels — which quietly costs more per tonne than any equipment decision in the specification.
Installed capital cost by capacity (USD)
| Scope item | 2 t/h | 5 t/h | 10 t/h | 20 t/h | Planning note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intake, pre-cleaning & weighbridge | 25k–60k | 60k–130k | 110k–240k | 200k–450k | Pit, drag chain, magnet, drum sieve and a 60 t weighbridge. Skipping the weighbridge is the single most common false economy — you lose every shortweight claim. |
| Grinding (hammer mill + aspiration) | 20k–45k | 45k–90k | 85k–180k | 160k–340k | Size the hammer mill on the finest screen you will actually run, not the coarsest. A 2 mm screen roughly halves the throughput of a 4 mm screen. |
| Dosing, batching & mixer | 35k–70k | 70k–150k | 130k–280k | 240k–520k | Includes micro and macro dosing bins and load cells. Mixer CV ≤ 5% is the acceptance figure to write into the contract. |
| Pelleting line (conditioner, press, cooler, crumbler, sifter) | 70k–150k | 150k–330k | 300k–650k | 600k–1.3M | The largest single line item. Mash-only mills remove it entirely and cut total equipment cost by roughly 40–50%. |
| Liquid addition (fat, molasses, enzymes) | 10k–25k | 20k–50k | 40k–90k | 70k–160k | Post-pellet liquid application protects heat-sensitive additives and often pays for itself against premix over-dosing. |
| Finished-feed handling, bagging or bulk loadout | 20k–45k | 45k–100k | 90k–190k | 170k–380k | Bulk loadout is cheaper per tonne but only works if your customers or farms have bulk bins. |
| Steam: boiler, treatment and distribution | 20k–50k | 45k–100k | 80k–180k | 150k–320k | Only required for pelleting. Fuel choice (gas, HFO, biomass) drives both capex and the energy line in opex. |
| Raw-material silos & bins | 40k–110k | 90k–260k | 180k–520k | 350k–1.0M | Costed on days of cover, not on mill size. Import-dependent sites need 30–45 days; sites next to a grain belt can run on 7–10. |
| Electrics, MCC, automation & control room | 35k–80k | 80k–180k | 150k–330k | 280k–620k | Batch-traceability software matters more than screen count. Insist on recipe versioning and per-batch reporting. |
| Civil works, steel structure & building | 80k–220k | 180k–480k | 330k–900k | 600k–1.7M | The band that moves most by country. Local construction cost, piling requirements and tower height decide it. |
| Freight, erection, commissioning & training | 45k–110k | 100k–240k | 180k–430k | 330k–800k | Budget 12–18% of equipment FOB value. Under-budgeting supervision is what turns a late project into a bad one. |
Rolled-up totals and cost per annual tonne of capacity
| Capacity | Annual output basis | Total installed | Per annual tonne |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 t/h | ~4,100 t/yr | USD 0.40M–0.97M | USD 98–237 per annual tonne |
| 5 t/h | ~10,200 t/yr | USD 0.88M–2.11M | USD 86–207 per annual tonne |
| 10 t/h | ~20,400 t/yr | USD 1.62M–3.99M | USD 79–196 per annual tonne |
| 20 t/h | ~40,800 t/yr | USD 3.15M–7.59M | USD 77–186 per annual tonne |
Conversion cost per tonne of finished feed (excluding raw materials)
| Cost line | Typical | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Electricity | USD 4.50–11.00 /t | 30–55 kWh per tonne for a pelleted broiler feed at USD 0.15/kWh. Mash-only mills run 12–20 kWh/t. |
| Steam fuel | USD 2.00–5.50 /t | 50–70 kg steam per tonne conditioned. Biomass boilers cut this sharply where husk or sawdust is local. |
| Labour | USD 1.50–8.00 /t | Production, QC and maintenance headcount divided by throughput. The range is almost entirely a country and utilisation effect. |
| Dies, rolls, hammers and screens | USD 1.20–3.00 /t | A die lasts 1,500–4,000 t depending on formula abrasiveness; hammers 800–2,000 t. |
| Maintenance & spares | USD 1.00–2.50 /t | Plan 3–5% of equipment value per year once the warranty ends. |
| Bags and packaging | USD 4.00–9.00 /t | 20 × 50 kg PP bags per tonne. Bulk delivery removes this line entirely. |
| Shrinkage and rework | USD 1.50–4.00 /t | 0.3–0.8% of raw-material value lost to dust, spillage and off-spec rework. |
| QC and laboratory | USD 0.60–2.00 /t | Intake NIR plus outsourced confirmatory panels and mycotoxin screening. |
Total conversion cost for a pelleted, bagged feed usually lands between USD 16 and USD 45 per tonne, with utilisation the dominant variable — a mill running at 40% of nameplate carries roughly double the fixed cost per tonne of the same mill at 80%.
These are indicative planning bands compiled from FeedMatch quotation work across Africa, the CIS, the Middle East and South-East Asia. They are budgeting ranges for feasibility and lender pre-screening, not offers. Actual pricing depends on the manufacturer, the specification, local civil costs and delivery terms.