INDUSTRY NEWS
After acquiring a 40% stake in Indian prawn and fish feed maker Avanti Feeds' shrimp-processing unit for US$18.5 million, Thai Union Group now have eyes for Indonesia and Bangladesh for more acquisitions and joint ventures.
THAI UNION ON ACQUISITION BINGE
Seafood giant Thai Union Group Pcl (TU) is eyeing possible investments in the shrimp sector in Indonesia and Bangladesh, Reuters reported.
Rittirong Boonmechote, head of TU's global shrimp business, was reported as saying on April 7 that the two countries looked "interesting" in terms of supply and that the company was looking for "opportunity in M&A (mergers and acquisitions) and a joint venture".
Thai Union has been on an acquisition binge outside Thailand as it reduces its reliance on domestic seafood supplies, particularly shrimp, which has been hit by the deadly EMS (early mortality syndrome).
Earlier, Thai Union announced it had acquired a 40% stake in Indian prawn and fish-feed maker Avanti Feeds' shrimp-processing unit Avanti Frozen Foods Private Ltd for 1.25 billion Indian rupees (US$18.5 million).
Also in February, it said it had completed the acquisition of a 51% stake in the Germany's leading fish processor, Rügen Fisch.
Its acquisition of the US-based Bumble Bee Seafoods last year was aborted after concerned US authorities said it would go against the antitrust law, or harm fair competition.
Thai Union aims to generate $1.2 billion in revenue from new businesses in the next five years.
…Acquires 40% of India's Avanti Frozen Foods
Thai Union has acquired a 40% stake in Indian prawn and fish feed maker Avanti Feeds' shrimp-processing unit Avanti Frozen Foods Private Ltd (AFFPL) for 1.25 billion Indian rupees (US$18.5 million).
TU said the acquisition should diversify its shrimp sourcing and add production capacity to meet growing demand for its products. "It should help compensate the current raw material shortfall in Thailand. India's shrimp farming sector has not been affected by serious disease outbreaks such as Early Mortality Syndrome (EMS). Despite recovery in 2015, Thai shrimp output is still less than half of the level seen before 2013", TU said in a press release posted on its website.
AFFPL was set up last year by its parent company Avanti Feeds Ltd as a shrimp-processing unit for the export and domestic markets. In November 2015, the company also acquired the existing shrimp processing operations of its parent. It is now in the process of building a new facility at Yerravaram in East Godavari District, about 80 kilometres from the existing shrimp processing plant at Gopalapuram in the state of Andra Pradesh, India. With the existing capacity of about 25 tonnes per day, the new facility will add another 50 tonnes.
AFFPL exports shrimp to the US, major European markets and Japan. It is targeting China as a potential market, as well as looking to fill the growing shrimp consumption in the domestic market.
"Avanti Feeds is our reliable long-term partner in India….The firm's strong management team has been consistently delivering great results in recent years, making us a very happy and proud investor of the company", said Thai Union President and CEO Thiraphong Chansiri.
For his part, Avanti Feeds Ltd Chairman and Managing Director A. Indra Kumar said, "This is another major milestone of Avanti Feeds….After feed, shrimp processing is another area that we want to strengthen our presence. With Thai Union's strong position in this space, I am truly excited about the prospect of this joint venture".
Earlier this year, TU acquired a 51% stake in Rügen Fisch, Germany's shelf-stable seafood leader.
It also tried to acquire the US-based Bumble Bee Seafoods last year but concerned US authorities thumbed down the deal as harmful to fair competition.
BELGIUM PLANT OPENS
Evonik Industries has opened in Antwerp, Belgium, the world's first production plant for a new methionine source specifically for shrimps and other crustaceans.
AQUAVI® Met-Met, the dipeptide of two DL-methionine molecules, is expected to be launched in the market in mid-2016 and will be used as an aquaculture feed additive.
"With AQUAVI® Met-Met, we are extending our range of feed amino acids for animal nutrition to include another specialty with high value for our customers," said Dr. Reiner Beste, chairman of the board of management of Evonik Nutrition & Care GmbH.
"In AQUAVI® Met-Met, we're offering a cost-efficient and sustainable solution for shrimp and crustacean farming," Dr. Emmanuel Auer, head of the Animal Nutrition Business Line at Evonik, commented.
In 2015, no less than half of the fish, crustaceans and shellfish consumed globally originated from aquaculture.
Fishmeal being part of the feed as a protein source is a significant cost factor for farmers. Supplementation with amino acids allows significant reduction of the proportion of fishmeal in feeds, as Evonik has demonstrated for fish farming.
However, shrimps and crustaceans have completely different feeding habits and digestive systems compared with fish, and AQUAVI® Met-Met has been developed specially for them. It is significantly less water-soluble than DL-methionine and not so easily leached out of the feed. In the digestive tract of shrimps, the dipeptide breaks down and methionine becomes available for protein synthesis at exactly the right time.
As feeding trials in many countries have shown, just 0.56 kg of AQUAVI® Met-Met in 1,000 kg of shrimp feed results in the same growth as 1 kg of DL-methionine. This increases the efficiency and sustainability of shrimp farming.
AQUAVI® Met-Met has already been registered as a feed additive in many countries, with more to follow. The new methionine source will initially be available for shrimps and crustaceans. Its efficiency is currently being tested for other species.
ENSURING QUALITY AND SAFETY
The Thai Cabinet has approved draft regulations related to white shrimp farming in a bid to ensure higher quality and safety of the country's shrimp.
Deputy Government Spokesperson Maj. Gen. Weerachon Sukhontapatipak said after last week's Cabinet meeting that the Cabinet had agreed to the proposed regulations that will set higher standards for the production of white shrimp ((Penaeus vannamei).
Weerachon pointed out that the shrimp farming sector has been plagued by early mortality syndrome (EMS), or acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND).
He said the new regulations on white shrimp farming prescribe practices that farmers have to follow to restore confidence in the quality and safety of Thai shrimp.
TO BOOST INNOVATION
The European Commission (EC) said it is investing over €7.67 million (US$8.75 million) to boost innovation and create jobs in the marine sector.
It said innovation in sectors like aquaculture, biotechnology and ocean energy is vital for the blue economy to thrive, but that certain bottlenecks, such as the lack of high-skilled professionals, under-investment in knowledge and technology, and slow progress from research results to the commercial stage need to be addressed. The blue economy aims to balance environmental sustainability with building up social capital, raising income and creating jobs.
The allotted money will be invested in the key areas where the EU thinks it can have the biggest impact: skills, creativity and technology.
Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Commissioner Karmenu Vella said that with the investment, the EC "is taking another step to create the conditions for blue growth in Europe".
"We are developing skills. We are rewarding creativity. We are boosting technology. Armed with these assets, I am convinced that the European maritime industry can become a global pioneer of blue growth", he said.
Of the €7.67-million investment, €3.45 million ($3.94 million) will be made available to equip job-seekers with useful skills necessary for the marine economy, re-train those willing to join the sector, and help people already working within the sector to progress in their career.
Some €1.7 million ($1.94 million) would be used to promote innovative "laboratories", where students and recent postgraduates team up with experienced tutors from the local business community and the public sector to address marine issues, while a total of €2.52 million ($2.9 million) would be utilised to encourage public-private partnerships that will support the transfer of new technologies and research results into commercial applications.
ISRAEL, ECUADOR HIT
A new virus is causing the massive die-offs of farmed tilapia in Israel and Ecuador, an international team of researchers has found.
Called TilV, the virus was responsible for the 85% decrease in the annual yields of the world's second-most farmed fish in Israel since 2009. This was considered unusual as tilapia is known to be relatively resistant to viral infections.
The researchers determined the genetic code of the virus from the tissue taken from diseased fish in Israel and Ecuador and when the healthy fish were exposed to TiLV cultured in a laboratory, the resulting disease matched with what was seen in Israel, where the diseased fish had swollen brains, and in Ecuador, where the affected fish had liver disease.
The 18 researchers—connected with the Center for Infection and Immunity and the New York Genome Center in the US, Tel Aviv University and Kimron Veterinary Institute in Israel; the University of Edinburgh, Scotland; and St. George's University, Grenada, West Indies—were baffled as to how the virus travelled from Israel to Ecuador and in which direction.
One of the researchers, Eran Bacharach, a molecular virologist at the Tel Aviv University, stressed the importance of tilapia as "one of the most important fish industries worldwide".
"Moreover, because they eat algae, they are ecological gatekeepers for freshwater and they are an inexpensive, important source of protein in poorer countries", he added.
Asia, South America and the Middle East are the largest producers of tilapia while the US is the biggest importer, consuming 225,000 tonnes of the fish yearly.
BOON TO FARMERS
India's Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture (CIBA) has developed a new feed for the country's multibillion-dollar shrimp farming industry, the New Indian Express reported. CIBA is an autonomous organisation under the Ministry of Agriculture.
Called "Vannamei Plus", the Indian-made feed is cheaper than the foreign feeds that shrimp farmers rely on, but produces just as much shrimp per hectare.
Three medium-scale feed mills have reportedly been built to produce the new feed.
CIBA director Dr. K.K. Vijayan said the new feed should be a boon to shrimp farmers as feed represents 60% of production costs in shrimp farming. He added that in the last five years the cost of shrimp feed has more than doubled.
CIBA is urging the concerned government agencies to allot money for the building of feed mills using the CIBA technology.
Already, farmer Karuna Raju has invested $226,000 to build a feed mill that will produce Vannamei Plus for his 50-hectare shrimp farm, the news report said.
'NO AUTHORITY TO APPROVE'
A coalition of environmental organisations has sued the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approving the first-ever genetically engineered (GE) food animal, an Atlantic salmon, saying it had no authority to approve and regulate GE animals that are produced for food.
The lawsuit said that FDA lumped GE animals together with "animal drugs" under the 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. "Those provisions were meant to ensure the safety of veterinary drugs administered to treat disease in livestock and were not intended to address entirely new GE animals that can pass along their altered genes to the next generation", the plaintiffs said.
They added that the approval of the GE salmon opens the door to other genetically engineered fish and shellfish, as well as chickens, cows, sheep, goats, rabbits and pigs that are reportedly in development.
The lawsuit also highlights FDA's alleged failure to protect the environment and consult wildlife agencies in its review process, "as required by federal law".
The plaintiff coalition includes the Center for Food Safety, Earthjustice, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, Institute for Fisheries Resources, Golden Gate Salmon Association, Kennebec Reborn, Friends of Merrymeeting Bay, Ecology Action Centre, Food & Water Watch, Centre for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, and Cascadia Wildlands.
The man-made salmon was created by AquaBounty Technologies Inc. with DNA from three fishes: Atlantic salmon, Pacific king salmon, and Arctic ocean eelpout. This marks the first time any government in the world has approved a GE animal for commercial sale and consumption.
It was approved for production and human consumption by the FDA on November 19, 2015, after a thorough scientific review over a period of 20 years. The FDA stated that AquAdvantage Salmon was as safe and nutritious to eat as any non-GE Atlantic salmon.
Last February the FDA temporarily halted imports of the GE salmon pending the publication of the final rules on product labelling after some US legislators demanded that the GE salmon products be subjected to specific labelling under the 2016 Omnibus Appropriations Act.
The FDA did not require GMO labelling as its current policy does not require labelling for method of production if there is no material difference compared with traditional foods. The FDA had found AquAdvantage Salmon as safe to consume as the traditionally farmed Atlantic salmon.
DROUGHT, HIGH SALINITY
Some 1,360 hectares of shrimp ponds in Vietnam's Bac Lieu province and 2,700 hectares in Ca Mau have been damaged due to drought, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD). Both provinces are two of Vietnam's major shrimp growers, and are situated in the Mekong Delta region in southern Vietnam.
Nguyen Thi Thiet of Bac Lieu said shrimp died en masse recently. "The water is too hot and salty," she explained, according to a report by vietnamnet.vn.
Another owner of a shrimp farm in Ca Mau said he all he could do was wait for rain.
MARD Deputy Minister Vu Van Tam said the drought and saline intrusion in Mekong River Delta "is very serious", adding the volume of farmed shrimp in the months from December 2015 to March 2016 was just half that of the same period last year.
Ngo Thanh Linh, secretary general of the Ca Mau provincial Seafood Exporters and Producers (CASEP), confirmed that shrimp shortage has occurred in Ca Mau, the largest shrimp-farming province, with the supply at only 37%-38% of processing workshops' capacity.
Le Van Quang, chair and general director of aquaculture company Minh Phu Seafood, also said their factory now runs at 80%-90% of the designed capacity.
BOOSTING SEAFOOD TRADE
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said it has allotted more than $1.2 million to fund aquaculture projects in the United States.
The funding is available through the Aquaculture Research Program, which focuses on projects that directly address major challenges to the US aquaculture industry. Results of projects under this program are intended to help improve the profitability of the US aquaculture industry, reduce the US trade deficit, increase domestic food security, provide markets for US-produced products, increase domestic aquaculture business investment opportunities, and provide more jobs for rural and coastal America.
Since 2014, this program has awarded nearly $2.5 million in funding.
Although US aquaculture production has shown growth in the past decade, the US still has a $12-billion trade deficit in seafood products and imports more than 90% of seafood consumed.
According to the USDA, applied research in genetics, disease, production systems, and economics is needed to develop practical solutions that will facilitate the growth of US aquaculture, which contributes more than half of the seafood consumed globally.
