May 29, 2013
Russia needs to bolster fish feed production to meet demand
In order to meet the national demand, Russia's fish feed production needs to increase 20 fold.
This is according to Valery Afanasiev, President of the Russian Feed Producers Union.
Speaking at 'The Russian livestock and poultry in the new environment' conference recently held in Moscow, Afanasiev said that because the structure of livestock feed production has not changed in recent years, the fish feed production sector has not grown.
"We are producing insufficient fish feed, especially for valuable fish species" Afanasiev said. "Feed production for valuable fish species is only 50,000 tonnes, and the demand- is about one million tonnes. The situation is similar in feed production for sheep, goat and fur farming".
According to Afanasiev, this is due mainly to the lack of appropriate technology and equipment. Also there is no large-scale industrial production of aquiculture in Russia which undermines the investment attractiveness of the fish feed industry. Therefore, Russia is currently importing feed for valuable species of fish.