Having drawn much attention lately for its acquisition of American broodstock firm Primo, the Tianbang feed conglomerate also appears to have its eyes set on Western aquafeed markets as well as domestic markets for high-end fish and crustaceans.
Tianbang (which is also known as Ningbo Tech-Bank Co., the name under which it’s listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange) is aiming to use the recently acquired Qingdao Qi Hao Sheng Wu Science & Technology Co. to expand sales of feed for cold-water and warm-water fish in China and overseas, according to the company’s vice president.
Vocal in its aim to up its feed output to one million tons in five years, Tianbang aims to increase Qi Hao’s output from a current 30,000 tons to 300,000 tons, but hasn’t given a timeframe for doing that, according to Tianbang vice president Su Li Rong. Speaking to Chinese seafood industry trade portal ShuiChan Pin Dao, he explained how the company wants to use Qi Hao as a manufacturing base supplying the Bohai Bay, a vast expanse of sea stretching from Qingdao down to Tianjin on China’s east coast. Su appears to put faith in future expansion of ocean-based aquaculture for high-price fish like flounder and grouper as a driver of demand for “high quality” feed.
Su said Tianbang is also aiming to bring the integrated model common in China’s pig industry to its aquaculture scene, meaning it will expand its footprint in aquaculture as well as feed production. This would be significant given the highly fragmented nature of China’s aquaculture sector – often cited by government as a key reason for frequent quality and food safety incidents.
