First-ever expansion by feed firm into China

Danish aquaculture feed firm the BioMar Group is breaking into the Chinese market with a new joint venture with a Chinese company to build a factory there.

BioMar is partnering with Tongwei Co., which has operations throughout China, to build a new factory that will produce more than 100,000 metric tons of feed per year for sea bass, sea bream, cobia, turbot, bass, grouper, trout, sturgeon, tilapia, eel, shrimp and other species.

"China is the world largest aquaculture market and Tongwei holds the leading position as a feed supplier to the aquaculture industry in China,” said BioMar CEO Carlos Diaz. “BioMar will as a leading global supplier of specialized larval and fry diets as well as high performance grower diets and functional feeds contribute with know-how and product ranges for the fast growing production of high value fish species in China."

The companies expect the new factory to open in 2016, and the two firms are planning to add three to five more new factories in China, and are looking to other ventures in other Asian countries. The move follows similar expansions by BioMar into countries such as Costa Rica and Turkey.

Diaz also addressed the long-standing concerns about the need for clean water for aquaculture expansion in China.

"In this scenario, with water becoming an increasingly scarce resource, BioMar can contribute with a huge amount of knowledge in environmental management, reduction of emissions from aquaculture to the aquatic environment, and especially with highly specialized diets developed for intensive fish production in recirculation aquaculture systems with very limited water consumption,” Diaz said. “BioMar has over the years through a proactive research effort and collaboration with farmers, authorities, and research institutions achieved a leading position in this field. This knowledge will be very important in the future development of aquaculture in China as well as the rest of Asia," he said.

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