Fish feed findings: Alltech’s 1st global aquaculture feed production survey

Following our annual Global Feed Survey, we decided to dive a little deeper into aquaculture this year and produce our first Aquaculture Feed Survey.

What did we find?

Similar to the overall Global Feed Survey, China ranks number one in aquaculture, producing more than 17.3 million tonnes of fish feed, far outpacing the second most productive country, Vietnam at 2.8 million tonnes.

Click here to download the chart of the top 12 aqua feed-producing countries, as well as additional survey details.

Sixty-two percent of China’s aqua feed production is for carp. For shrimp, the greatest shares of the countries’ aqua feed production were in India (66 percent), Thailand (42 percent) and Indonesia (33 percent). Perhaps unsurprisingly, the greatest shares of salmon feed production were in Norway (94 percent), Canada (86 percent) and Chile (85 percent).

How do shrimp and salmon compare overall?

Shrimp accounts for 21 percent of global aqua feed production, 82 percent of which occurs in Asia. Salmon, meanwhile, accounts for 11 percent globally, with Europe as the center of production (52 percent of global salmon feed).

The high cost of finisher feeds

The survey also examined the average cost of finisher diets. Interestingly, the top three most expensive were all within the Asia-Pacific region: Korea at $1,800; Japan at $1,700 and Vietnam at $1,333. However, nearly 50 percent of survey responses indicated average prices over $1,000.

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