In 2021, Skretting China saw that domestic salmon farming was starting to take off, but that there was limited experience within salmon grow-out in recirculating systems (RAS).
How Skretting started making top-quality RAS feed for customers in China
As market leaders in traditional salmon-producing countries like Norway, this was a fantastic opportunity for Skretting to position ourselves as the preferred RAS feed supplier for up-and-coming salmon projects in China.
An essential first step was to obtain RCX certification for our factory in Zhuhai. This is an internal certification program that all Skretting factories need to undergo before they can produce and sell RCX feed – premium feeds which meet all the nutritional requirements to support fast and healthy fish growth in RAS, while also ensuring superior and consistent physical pellet quality in order to maintain balance between the fish, water and system.
Implementation at the factory
Combining a high-fat feed suitable for salmon with excellent pellet quality is a very tall order in itself. We were now adding the challenge of producing this feed in a factory where the existing equipment was intended for shrimp and low-fat fish feeds. The environment in the south of China is also different from the Nordic climate.
“At the time there was no production of Atlantic salmon in Asia, so there was no high-quality salmon feed available there,” says Stuart Fyfe, Global Process Excellence Leader at Nutreco. “Producing feed that’s high in fat requires special raw materials, equipment, and a different approach to process and quality control.”
With Stuart’s team’s guidance, Skretting China decided to invest in and install new equipment. New processes were put in place, and the Chinese team diligently ran numerous trials until they were able to demonstrate that they could produce RCX feed in a reliable way. In 2022, Skretting China’s factory officially became RCX-certified, allowing them to produce Skretting feed for Atlantic salmon grow-out in RAS.
With RAS being the strategic focus of our aquaculture business in China, we confidently expect an acceleration of growth for our RCX feed volume in the next few years.
Extensive follow-up on quality
All feeds produced at Skretting must conform to the standards in our Nutrace feed-to-food programme, but RCX feeds have to meet extended and stricter quality standards before they are approved for sale. Every single batch is carefully tested on parameters like fat leakage, dust, breakage, turbidity, glossiness, and moisture. This process is essential to prevent the accumulation of organic matter in the recirculating system, which can escalate water treatment demands and pose significant health risks to the fish. We do everything we can to mitigate these risks.
“Producing high-quality RCX feed out of our Skretting Zhuhai factory was mission impossible from the beginning. We didn’t have the right equipment. We didn’t know how to formulate, source the right materials, or produce the feed. And this was in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Jason Yang, General Manager of Skretting China recalls.
“I will never forget all the online calls we had with Skretting colleagues from around the world, crossing multiple functions, continents, and time zones. Step by step, we moved the needles until we finally made it. The best gift we earned from this experience was not being able to produce Skretting’s RCX feed; it was resolving world class challenges through global collaboration. That’s what defines the Skretting spirit, and what makes us proud.”
Today, Skretting China provides its RCX feed to the RAS salmon segment in China with undisputable market leadership. “With RAS being the strategic focus of our aquaculture business in China, we confidently expect an acceleration of growth for our RCX feed volume in the next few years,” says Jason.
