With Indian’s aquaculture sector posting steady growth, Belgium-based animal nutrition firm Nutriad is targeting the market for expansion.
Currently, Nutriad provides feed additive solutions for animal nutrition and health to more than 1,200 customers in over 80 countries. Company officials, including aquaculture business director Peter Coutteau, aquaculture nutrition business development manager Alexander van Halteren, and Asia Pacific regional manager for aquaculture Allen Wu were present at the recently concluded Aqua India 2018 event, studying how best to enter the Indian market.
The biannual event, organized by the Indian Society of Aquaculture Professionals, was held in Chennai, Tamil Nadu state on the west coast of India. At the event, Coutteau announced Nutriad will be expanding its aquaculture teams in India with the addition of Gnanamani Tkangairulappan as aquaculture manager for South Asia. Tkangairulappan will be based in based in Chennai. Coutteau also announced the hire of Bruno Urach of Pernambuco, Brazil, who was appointed sales manager for northeast Brazil – another region Nutriad is targeting for expansion.
The event also conducted a session on aquaculture nutrition, where van Halteren presented a paper on “Balancing nutrient levels in commercial shrimp feeds."
The paper cited a 2016 Feed Survey showing that the number of shrimp feed suppliers has experienced a sharp increase, likely in response to a dramatic uptick in India’s white shrimp production. The survey investigated the different nutritional strategies in commercial shrimp feeds, analyzing representative feed samples of eight major shrimp feed brands. The study found nutrient levels in many of the aquafeeds studied could benefit from nutrient optimization, including the addition of amino acids, phospholipids, cholesterol, and n-3 highly unsaturated fatty acids, according to the company.
Nutraid, a provider of additive solutions for fish and shrimp feed, said the study reveals the promising opportunity in the market.
“[The Asia Pacific region] in general and India in particular are part of our strategic focus to further build on our leading position in the feed additives market for aquaculture," Nutriad CEO Erik Visser said in a statement.
