DDGS Potential  in Indonesia’s Aquaculture Sector

Aquaculture is expanding in Indonesia, creating an opportunity to increase exports of U.S. distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS). To capitalize on this trend, Dr. Budi Tangendjaja, U.S. Grains Council (USGC) technical program manager in Indonesia, and Tran Trong Chien, USGC country representative in Vietnam, presented papers on catfish production in Vietnam and the results of feeding trials using DDGS in catfish and tilapia feed at IndoAqua 2007, an aquaculture conference organized by Indonesia’s Ministry of Fisheries.

According to Tangendjaja, interest in DDGS is strong. “More than 120 people came to the session, despite a capacity of only 100,” he said. “DDGS is quite new for aquaculture in Indonesia. DDGS has been tested in Vietnam and Indonesia for feeding tilapia and can be included up to 15 percent in the feed.”

Indonesian aquaculture feed production is approximately 650,000 metric tons and the sector is growing, Tangendjaja noted. “The second presentation on catfish production in Vietnam was also important as participants can learn from Vietnam’s efforts to increase production. The Indonesian government projects the rate of increase for aquaculture (fish and shrimp) may be greater than 10 percent annually,” he said, adding some feed mills have already begun including DDGS in their formulation.

The Council estimates Indonesia’s aquaculture sector could use up to 97,500 tons of DDGS at current production levels.