Murmansk, Russia-based Russian Aquaculture company is planning a new aquafeed plant in the Novgorod region that will produce salmon feed to help combat shortfalls faced by the country’s aquaculture industry.
The plant is the first of its kind announced in Russia after nearly every major overseas aquaculture feed supplier pulled out of the market in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine. According to the Novgorod region’s government, construction on the new plant will start in 2023, with Russian Aquaculture undertaking the design of the facilities and necessary infrastructure.
The plant, according to the company, will cost RUB 2 billion (USD 28 million, EUR 27 million), and will employ 50 workers. The expected output of the facility has not bee revealed yet, but estimates based on current investments put it a range between 30,000 and 50,000 metric tons (MT).
According to the Russian Federal Agency for Fisheries, new plants are seen as a solution in the mid- to long-term for the acute shortage of feed in the country. Three new factories are to be launched in late 2022 and early 2023, according to the agency.
In the short-term, however, the situation is still dire for many aquaculture companies. The annual demand for fish feed by Russian aquaculture operations is 170,000 MT, but currently, domestic production is just 20,000 MT, leaving a 150,000 MT supply gap that current manufacturing capacity can’t fill, according to the agency.
Making matters worse, much of Russia’s output depends on imports – Russian feed plants buy critical components like fishmeal, vitamins, and amino acids from foreign sources that have since pulled out of the country. Russian trade association Rosrybkhoz, which represents aquafeed manufactures in the country, told Fishnews in early April that a sharp decrease in domestic feed production may occur as a result.
The feed shortages are also leading to price hikes, according to Russian feed producer LimKorm. In the span of two weeks in late March and early April, the price of feed jumped 40 percent – which the company said was caused by an increase in the cost of raw materials. Prices for fishmeal went up by 40 to 67 percent, amino acids by 60 to 270 percent, and vitamins by 100 percent.
The Russian Federal Agency for Fisheries is now in talks with Russian seafood producers, asking them to supply more fishmeal to the domestic market instead of exporting it, the agency’s Science and Aquaculture Department Head Alexander Malashenko told an annual meeting of Rosrybkhoz in April. He also said the government is trying to negotiate with Chinese suppliers to try and boost access to ingredients.
Whatever the solution, the situation is dire. Business paper Kommersant reported that Nizhniy Novgorod-based Glavryba-NN CEO Mikhail Golubev said, during a session of a regional legislative assembly, that his company was in a “catastrophic situation.” The company farms sharptooth catfish, a species that Russian feed providers didn’t manufacture feed for – meaning Golubev largely sourced the aquafeed necessary from abroad. The company's stock of that imported feed will end in three to four months, Golubev said, after which it will be unable to continue to operate.
Photo courtesy of Russian Aquaculture
