From The Fish Site, September 18:
Rabobank: why the aquafeed sector needs a rethink
The aquafeed industry needs to “think out of the box to find growth,” according to a new report, How to Succeed in Aqua Feed, which has been published by Rabobank today.
As the report notes: “After years of growth, the aqua feed industry is experiencing a deceleration, with increasing overcapacity in nearly all key markets globally. The causes vary and are often region-specific, but what is clear is that the aqua feed industry will need to think out of the box to find growth.”
The most promising avenues for growth, according to the report, include “combining feed with a range of complementary inputs, such as genetics, animal health products, data analysis solutions, hardware, and farm management software, in order to extract previously unobtainable synergies.”
Context is provided by a sector-by-sector breakdown which details the trends in each of the salmon, shrimp and tilapia and pangasius industries. The report notes that opportunities in the salmon feed sector are being limited by the slow down in salmon production in Norway and Chile, and by an increasing trend for salmon producers to mill their own feeds.....MORE
Indeed, as the report points out, Mowi and Bakkafrost becoming self-sufficient in feeds in Norway, Scotland, Ireland and the Faroe Islands, essentially reduces the European aquafeed market by 20 percent. While, the authors add, “it cannot be ruled out that some of the larger players in Chile or in other regions will at some point vertically integrate into feed”.
Meanwhile, the shrimp feed sector, they note, is characterised by overcapacity, not least in India and Thailand, which "will take years of growth to fill, especially since expected growth of shrimp aquaculture has decreased to be more in line with demand growth”....
