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AyRojgar

Poultry feed mill

Mixing maize, soybean meal and bran into poultry feed sold in 50 kg sacks. Sacks run Tk 3,000-3,669, and both a Department of Livestock Services licence and a BSTI CM licence are compulsory.

  • Last reviewed: 19 September 2026
  • Version 1
Starting capital
৳8,00,000 – ৳60,00,000
Editorial estimate
Manpower
4 – 20 people
First sale
45 – 150 days
Official source
Break-even
15 – 24 months
Editorial estimate
Kind of work
Workshop · Hard

What the business is

A mill that mixes maize, soybean meal, rice bran, broken rice, fish meal and a vitamin-mineral premix into poultry feed and sells it in 50 kg sacks. Why this business matters comes down to one figure: feed is 70 to 80 percent of a poultry farm's total production cost. The feed mill decides whether the farmer makes money. There is a documented case of what the price does. On 25 August 2026 farmers blocked the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway at Jaina Bazar in Sreepur, Gazipur, protesting a feed price rise. According to them and to the traders: a 50 kg sack that had been selling at Tk 3,557 until the previous Sunday rose by Tk 100-112, and a sack that had sold at Tk 2,960 went past Tk 3,000. That is about Tk 2 a kilo, and on a 2,000-bird farm it means roughly Tk 20,000 more a month. Nothing can be made here without a licence. Section 4 of the Fish Feed and Animal Feed Act 2010 bars producing, processing, marketing, selling or distributing animal feed without the licence under section 6. The licensing authority is the Director General of the Department of Livestock Services or a first-class officer he empowers. Under section 6 the licence is issued within 30 days if the conditions are met; if not, up to 30 more days are given to meet them and a decision follows within 15 days. The licence runs one year. Breaking the Act carries up to one year in prison or a fine up to Tk 50,000, or both, under section 20. On top of that, poultry feed is item 5 on BSTI's mandatory list (BDS 233:2019) and its sample test costs Tk 20,000 - among the dearest of any food.

Unit economics

ItemRangeEvidenceSuggest a correction
Monthly working capital৳5,00,000 – ৳35,00,000Editorial estimate
Selling price৳3,060 – ৳3,669 / unitMarket quote
Variable cost৳2,700 – ৳3,150 / unitEditorial estimate
Gross margin12% – 14%Editorial estimate
Time to first revenue45 – 150 daysOfficial source
Break-even time15 – 24 monthsEditorial estimate
Cash cycle0 – 60 daysEditorial estimate
Waste / loss2% – 5%Editorial estimate
Daily capacity8 – 40Editorial estimate

What you need to start

  • A grinder or hammer mill, a batch mixer, a pellet machine and cooler if you make granular feed, conveyors or elevators, a weighing system, a bagging and stitching line, and dry stores for ingredients and finished feed.Equipment
  • BSTI CM licence. Poultry feed is item 5 on the mandatory list, BDS 233:2019 (3rd revision). New application Tk 1,000, renewal Tk 1,000. Sample test Tk 20,000 over 14 working days or Tk 25,000 urgent over four. Annual CM fee 0.10 percent of ex-factory value with a Tk 3,500 floor and Tk 35,00,000 ceiling. Note that cattle feed is not on this list, but poultry feed and fish feed are.Licence
  • Trade licence from the city corporation or municipality: form Tk 10, licence book Tk 50, standard tax Tk 30, stamp Tk 150-300, licence fee Tk 100-60,000 by trade type. Issued in 3-5 working days.Licence
  • Animal feed production licence under the Fish Feed and Animal Feed Act 2010 (Act 2 of 2010). Section 4 bars production, processing, import, export, marketing, sale and distribution without the section 6 licence. Section 5 names the Director General of the Department of Livestock Services, or a first-class officer he empowers, as licensing authority. Section 6: licence within 30 days if conditions are met, otherwise up to 30 more days to comply and a decision within 15 days. Section 7: one-year term, renewal applied for 30 days before expiry. Section 8 leaves the fee to rules and the amount is not in the Act.Licence
  • Knowing the formula and being able to judge ingredient quality by eye and hand. Adulterated soybean meal or bran cut with husk drops the protein, and the sample test catches it.Skill
  • Regular suppliers of maize, soybean meal, rice bran and polish, broken rice, fish meal, oyster shell and a vitamin-mineral premix. Premix is usually imported, so the dollar rate and duty land directly on cost.Supplier
  • A shed with a concrete floor and dry, raised stores, a three-phase power connection and room for trucks. Wet ingredients mould and a whole lot is lost.Workspace

How the work runs

  1. 1Decide what you will make - broiler starter, grower, finisher or layer feed. Each has its own specification, and section 10 of the Act makes the government-set standard compulsory.
  2. 2Choose a site inside a farming belt. Where farms are dense - Gazipur, Mymensingh, Narsingdi - freight is low and orders are steady.
  3. 3Take the trade licence from the city corporation or municipality, TIN and VAT registration from NBR, and ask whether Department of Environment clearance applies.
  4. 4Apply to the Department of Livestock Services for the animal feed production licence. Section 4 of the Act bars production, marketing and sale without it.
  5. 5Install the plant: a grinder or hammer mill, a mixer, a pellet machine if you make granular feed, conveyors, a weighing system and a bagging line with a stitching machine.
  6. 6Fix the formula and record every batch. When maize and soybean meal prices move the formula has to move, or either the cost rises or the quality falls.
  7. 7Apply to BSTI for the CM licence - poultry feed is item 5 on the mandatory list, BDS 233:2019. The sample test is Tk 20,000 over 14 working days or Tk 25,000 urgent over four.
  8. 8Label the sacks. Section 13 of the Act deals specifically with containers and labelling, and section 14 bans antibiotics, growth hormone, steroids and pesticides in feed outright.
  9. 9Keep a retained sample from every batch. Under section 11 feed that tests unfit is seized, and under section 16 it can be destroyed.
  10. 10Appoint dealers and build direct relationships with small farmers. How much cheaper your sack is than a company sack is the one question the farmer decides on.
  11. 11Apply to renew the licence at least 30 days before it expires - section 7 sets a one-year term, and the licence stays in force until the renewal is decided.

Seasons

  1. JanNormal
  2. FebNormal
  3. MarNormal
  4. AprNormal
  5. MayNormal
  6. JunNormal
  7. JulNormal
  8. AugNormal
  9. SepNormal
  10. OctNormal
  11. NovNormal
  12. DecNormal
HighNormalLow

Where it fits

  • Strong fitGazipur · One of the densest poultry belts in the country; small farmers around Jaina Bazar in Sreepur are organised enough to have blocked the highway over a feed price rise. The customers are on the doorstep.
  • Strong fitMymensingh · A major centre for broiler and layer farms, with maize-growing areas nearby - raw material and customers in one place.
  • Strong fitNarsingdi · A poultry area next to Dhaka with many small farms and an existing dealer network.
  • PossibleBogura · The northern trading centre and a big market for maize and rice by-products, with many farms.
  • PossibleChattogram · Being next to the port, imported soybean meal and premix land cheapest here.
  • PossibleCumilla · On the highway, with a high density of farms and supply possible towards both Dhaka and Chattogram.
  • PossibleDinajpur · One of the country's largest maize-growing areas, so the main ingredient is next to the field.
  • PossibleKishoreganj · A paddy and maize area beside the haor, where bran and broken rice are cheap.

Risks and cautions

  • HighCompliance: Running without a licence, or failing a sample test, is an immediate danger. Section 20 of the Fish Feed and Animal Feed Act 2010 provides up to one year in prison or a fine up to Tk 50,000, or both. Section 14 bans antibiotics, growth hormone, steroids and pesticides outright, and using them is itself an offence. Section 15 gives officers power to enter the plant and section 16 allows adulterated feed to be seized and destroyed. Poultry feed is also a BSTI mandatory product, so the mill answers to two authorities - farmers themselves have demanded an end to 'BSTI harassment' at feed mills.
  • HighWorking capital: Ingredients are bought for cash and feed is sold on credit. The farmer pays after selling birds or eggs, and when the egg price falls that money does not come. At Sreepur on 25 August 2026 farmers said that with feed rising and egg and bird prices not, many were shutting down - and when a farmer shuts down, the mill's credit goes with him.
  • HighDependency: There is no poultry feed without maize and soybean meal, and the price of both is set by imports and the world market. The Sreepur farmers demanded withdrawal of duty on maize and other raw materials and a subsidy on soybean and maize - meaning one change in the tariff structure can turn this business's cost upside down.
  • MediumDemand: When farmers lose money, feed demand falls at once, because they either run fewer batches or shut the shed. The market is already held by large companies such as Akij, Paragon and Nourish, which give dealers credit and incentives, and a small mill has to buy that space by cutting its price.
  • MediumSpoilage: Maize, bran and soybean meal mould if they get wet and develop aflatoxin. Feed made from them drops bird performance, the farmer complains, and the sample test catches it. If the store cannot be kept dry through the monsoon, a whole lot has to be written off.

Sources

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