In fish farming, fish feed prices account for the largest share of production costs. Artificial feed is an important part of modern commercial aquaculture, providing a variety of nutrients needed for fish. Feed pellets provide nutrients in a stable and concentrated form, allowing fish to eat efficiently and reach their full potential.
In the development of modern aquaculture, since the 1970s, fishmeal and fish oil have been key ingredients in these fish feeds. They are combined with other ingredients such as vegetable protein, grains, vitamins, and minerals to form feed pellets. For example, wheat is widely used because it is an important ingredient in helping to form nutrient granules.
Aquaculture feed contains essential nutrients that farmers should provide appropriately to keep fish and shrimp healthy. These nutrients come from various sources, such as fishmeal and fish oil, other plant-based fishmeal and oils, fish trimmings, and processing by-products of terrestrial animals. Like humans, fish and shrimp have specific nutritional needs, including protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. The nutrients in fish feed come from a range of natural ingredients, depending on their life stage. Aquaculture feeds are usually provided in the form of dry feed pellets and contain all the essential nutrients needed to maintain the healthy growth of fish and shrimp and support the needs of different life stages.
Most fish farmers take mustard oil cake, peanut oil cake, and soybean meal as the primary source of protein. Use rice bran, wheat and its by-products, corn, boiled rice, broken rice, and other grains as energy supplements. They also use unconventional feed ingredients such as meat meal, guar gum, poultry by-products, etc. Some vegetable oils such as peanut oil, coconut oil, sunflower oil, sesame oil, mustard oil, soybean oil, soybean lecithin, palm oil, and rice bran oil are used as feed ingredients to meet fat requirements. It is important to note that the proportions of ingredients in the feed vary with the environment and the fish’s health. Farmers also use chickpeas, jaggery, and salt in fish hatcheries as feed ingredients for brooding fish.
1) Increased raw materia
Fish feed is the most important cost component of fish production, accounting for almost half of production costs. Rising prices of various raw materials can make fish feed more expensive to produce. For example, fish meal is the main ingredient in fish feed. Fishmeal is a brown powder that usually contains high levels of protein and appreciable amounts of lipids and minerals and is used to feed farm animals such as pigs, poultry, and farmed fish, and is an important ingredient in feed. About 90% of the world’s fishmeal production comes from oily fish such as sardines, anchovies, capelin and herring, and less than 10% from whitefish guts such as cod and haddock (frame). About one-third of the world’s annual fish catch is used as raw material for fishmeal production.
The use of fishmeal in the animal feed industry has seen intense competition due to rising demand and large output shortages worldwide. As a result, fishmeal has become the most expensive protein ingredient in animal and aquafeeds in recent years. Many developing countries have concluded that they will not be able to continue to use fishmeal as the main source of protein in aquafeeds in the long run. Many attempts have been made to partially or completely replace fishmeal with less expensive, locally available protein sources.
2) Same pattern
Fishmeal demand has thus contributed to price increases for comparable replacements like corn, wheat, and rice. The price curve rises rapidly for all of them in the same manner.
3) Energy intensive
Several commodities, including iron ore, steel, aluminum, fertilizers and copper, have risen in price in recent years. The production, manufacture and transportation of many of these raw materials are energy-intensive and heavily dependent on oil prices, which also increases feed costs. As raw material shipping prices continue to rise, feed prices are likely to become more expensive.