These appear to be good times for some of China’s aquaculture feed suppliers, including a firm backed by U.S. venture capital.
Sales rose 20 percent in 2017 at Guangdong-based Yuehai Feed Group Co., according to company chairman Zheng Shi Xuan, who addressed staff at the company’s Chinese New Year party in Zhanjiang. Yuehai Feed Group received a USD 100 million (EUR 80.8 million) investment from KKR & Co., private equity and real estate investment firm specializing in direct and fund investments in the fintech sector. KKR & Co. cited the firm’s technology capacities, as well as the growth in demand for innovative feed for seawater fish and shrimp, in making its investment in 2015.
Zheng did not divulge sales totals, but credited Yuehai Feed Group’s growth to demand from cultivators of high-end ocean-raised fish species like perch and yellow croaker.
Yuehai is the largest manufacturer of high-end special aquatic feed products in China by market share, according to China Feed Industry Yearbook. Yuehai aims to capitalize on the Chinese government’s desire to shift feed input away from raw frozen fish and traditional pellet feed to more advanced floating puffed feed, which is regarded as more efficient due to a higher feed conversion rate.
Meanwhile, Yuehai competitor Guangdong Wanghai Feed Co. saw sales rise 17.8 percent in 2017, the company revealed at its end-of-year party. Company CEO Ou Yang Bin told staff that sales were strong to perch, catfish and tilapia farms as well as to the frog-farming sector. Wanghai staff have become a familiar site in Guangdong villages, wearing monagrammed jackets and offering advice to fish farmers.
