The world market for fish feed and aquaculture additives is growing by 11 percent each year and is expected to reach USD178.81 billion by 2022, according to Las Vegas based Crystal Market Research.
The “market” — said to have reached USD56.27 billion in 2012 — includes aquaculture “additives” understood to comprise amino acids, acidifiers, vitamins, antibiotics and algae. The feed in the report includes fish meal meant for other farmed species than salmon.
Natural health supplements like Omega 3 —found in salmon — are driving a massive growth in worldwide aquaculture activity which in turn is driving demand for “aquafeed and additives”.
Only the variable costs of feed ingredients, especially fish oil and fish meal, are seen hampering the industry’s growth, although it is not understood why these basic ingredients were not cited as part of the report. Crystal, which researches many markets, has segmented the market “on the basis of product”, including antibiotics, and on the species salmon, carp, crustaceans, mollusks and tilapia.
Crystal cites Biomar as a “major player” in the market and a source for its research. It also names Ridley Aquafeeds Ltd., Aller Aqua and Biomin. Jan Sverre Roesstad, Biomar VP and head of the BioMar Group’s Salmon Division, confirmed for SalmonBusiness that the market is in the billions and growing fast, but he says there are tens of millions of farmed fish worldwide, and perhaps just 10 percent of grow-outs require high-quality feed.
About “65 percent to 75” percent of BioMar’s feed production is specifically for salmon operations, and recent company investments — a new production line and a new acquired company in Equador — speak of a growing worldwide demand for feed. In late October 2017, BioMar opened an aquafeed plant on the island of Karmoy in southwestern Norway, where 32 tonnes (64 million pellets) an hour will be produced, good enough for 426 million salmon dinners.
At the plant’s opening, Roesstad said there was “great faith in the future of the aquaculture sector”. He added, “This is the world’s foremost plant in the sector and its completely world-class”.
