Bangladesh: Market Analysis on Fish Feed

The use of fish feeds in Bangladesh has grown substantially in the past few years, and now over 1 million tonnes of animal feeds are being formulated for use by fish farmers every year. So there is huge demand for fish feed pellets in Bangladesh, which increasing the need for fish feed machine.

Fish Feed Ingredients and Formulation
Bangladesh produces 50–55% of fish feed ingredients, with the remainder imported. Some raw materials such as rice bran requires processing in mills before incorporation into formulated fish feeds. Machines used for feed processing are directly imported by feed mills with assistance of marketing agents from manufacturing companies.
The main ingredients used for fish feed production are rice bran (20–50% inclusion), maize (5–20% inclusion),soybean meal (10–30% inclusion),mustard oil cake (10–25% inclusion),fish meal (5–15% inclusion) and meat and bone meal (10–20% inclusion). All in all, imported raw materials contribute more than 50% to the total cost of feed production in Bangladesh.

Fish Feed Production Plant and Market TrendsUse of formulated feeds for fish farming is increasing in Bangladesh, associated with growth and intensification and commercialization of aquaculture. It seems that commercial pelleted feeds are starting to replace ‘farm-made’ and ‘raw’ unformulated feeds.

Feed Extrusion Process
Extrusion technology is mainly used for producing floating feed for tilapia, which accounts for around 40–50% of total tilapia feed production and retails for 7–10 BDT/kg (USD0.09–0.128/kg) more than sinking feed. The production rate of grower feed is 1–2 tonnes/hour greater than that of starter feed, while energy consumption in machine operation and protein inclusion costs are higher for starter feed than for grower.
The rate of expansion in the production and uptake of manufactured feeds has been so rapid in Bangladesh that the industry has yet to mature. It is likely that considerable consolidation will take place over the coming years as farmers become more sophisticated in their feed management and preferences and the benefits of higher quality feeds become more readily apparent.