September 17, 2024

 

The state of industrial shrimp farming in China

 

The main models of white shrimp farming in China include earthen pond farming and industrial farming.

 

Industrial farming produces only about 50,000-100,000 tonnes of Chinese white shrimp output (earthen pond farming is currently the leading farming method in China). The most advanced industrial farming model remains unaffordable for most small and medium-sized farm owners due to high initial investment costs.

 

Nevertheless, industrial shrimp farming expanded rapidly from 2014 to 2023, gradually changing the shrimp farming landscape in the country. According to preliminary statistics, the scale of industrial shrimp farming exceeds 10 million cubic meters and is mainly concentrated in Shandong, Hebei, Tianjin, Jiangsu, and Liaoning. The scale of industrial shrimp farming in Shandong exceeds six million cubic meters, the largest in the country.

 

In northern China, Shouguang pioneered industrial shrimp farming, which has now spread to its surrounding cities of Dongying, Weihai, and others.

 

Hebei's industrial shrimp farming scale is second only to Shandong. The breeding scale in Hebei is about one million cubic meters.

 

Liaoning Province has a farming scale of more than one million cubic meters.

 

Within the Chinese aquaculture market, major aquafeed producers are competing fiercely to expand upstream and become major integrators. Companies that are setting up industrial shrimp farms in Shandong include CP Feed, Tongwei, Haid, and Evergreen. Tongwei Group, in particular, built a 2,000-mu industrial farm in Dongying, Shandong, in 2022 with the capacity to produce 10,000 tonnes of South American white shrimp. The company aims to expand its annual shrimp output to one million tonnes in the next 5-10 years.

 

Meanwhile, Haid announced last year that in the next three years, it will invest ¥8 billion (US$1.1 billion) in Guangdong to build industrial farms with a combined annual output of 200,000 tonnes of shrimp.

 

The investments in industrial shrimp farming made by Tongwei, Haid, Evergreen, CP, and other companies mark the future direction of the industry, following in the footsteps of China's poultry, pig, and other livestock farming sectors. With this shift, traditional shrimp farming will gradually be phased out of the market as the major players dominate production.

 

- David Lin, eFeedLink