The BioMar Group and the Sagun Group, one of the leading Turkish companies within aquaculture, fish processing and trading, have formed a joint-venture fish feed company in Turkey.

The president of the Sagun Group, Ahmet Tuncay Sagun, and the chief executive officer of the BioMar Group, Torben Svejgaard, signed a memorandum of understanding at the 10th anniversary of the Turkish Pavilion at the Seafood Show in Brussels as the basis for forming a joint-venture company in Turkey. The joint venture will establish a fish feed factory, which is expected to be operational towards the end of 2015, and which will supply fish feed to both Turkey and some of the neighbouring countries.

The annual Turkish aquaculture production has grown to about 200,000 tonnes of fish in recent years. Today Turkey is the second largest aquaculture nation in Europe after Norway. On top of supplying the growing domestic fish consumption, Turkey has also become a major supplier of fish species like sea bass, sea bream, and trout to the European market. In order for the Turkish aquaculture industry to remain competitive there is a growing need for more efficient, sustainable, and environmental friendly diets and production methods.

"BioMar is well-known for delivering high performance fish feed with a sustainable profile, and it has an outstanding technical customer service," said Sagun. He believes this will also be some of the key contributions of the new joint-venture company to the Turkish aquaculture industry.

Svejgaard expressed his satisfaction with the agreement: "Turkey is one of the leading aquaculture nations in Europe. It still has a tremendous growth potential with excellent natural conditions for fish farming, a growing domestic fish consumption as well as good access to export markets for both fish and fish feed. We are extremely pleased to enter this agreement with the Sagun Group. The Sagun Group is a solid company with a long history and an excellent network in Turkey and internationally. This will facilitate the market access for the new joint-venture factory."

Sagun was equally pleased with the agreement: "BioMar is a perfect match for the Sagun Group. The know-how of BioMar within areas like fish feed development, sourcing, and feed manufacturing will benefit both us and other fish farmers in Turkey. BioMar is the leading supplier of high performance feed to sea bass, sea bream, and trout in Europe, and we are proud to enter into a collaboration agreement with BioMar on equal terms. We believe this joint-venture will help to develop and strengthen the whole aquaculture sector in Turkey."

The Sagun Group is a privately held company consisting of five different companies operating eight production facilities across Turkey. The main business areas are aquaculture and fish processing as well as exportation and importation of fish. The president and owner of the Sagun Group, Ahmet Tuncay Sagun, is part of the third generation running the family company.