One of China’s leading tilapia firms is refocusing its long-term strategy toward the domestic market for shrimp.
Hainan Xiangtai Fishery Co. is building shrimp farms in Thailand, and wants to add significantly to its processing operations, company director Liu Rong Jie said while speaking at a government ceremony to acknowledge state labor heroes.
The company’s Thai project will farm and process 4,000 tons of vannemei shrimp a year, according to Jie, who said his firm’s investments in the next five years will add CNY 1.5 billion (USD 221.4 million, EUR 197.9 million) in revenue to the Xiangtai annual earnings sheet. A 3,000-ton-per-year collagen plant will be built in Hainan alongside expanded processing lines for shrimp and tilapia, which will incorporate higher mechanization through artificial intelligence.
The firm has been inspired by China’s Belt and Road Initiative to seize opportunities in regional countries. Xiangtai has coastal aquaculture for silver pomfret producing 10,000 metric tons per year, according to Jie, and the firm is now the top player in aquafeed milling and distribution on the island.
Silver pomfret in March averaged CNY 110.14 (USD 16.20, EUR 14.50) per kilogram, according to an Agriculture Ministry survey of 47 wholesale seafood markets – making it one of the most expensive fish sold in the surveyed markets.
Xiangtai came third in a 2016 ranking of China’s leading tilapia processors by China Aquatic Products Promotion and Marketing Association (CAPPMA), which ranked the firms by earnings.
