Emsland-Aller Aqua GmbH opens one of Europe’s largest and most modern fish feed factories

By Henrik Halken, Prokurist/Boardmember, Emsland-Aller Aqua GmbH

Monday 15^th September 2008 at 1500 hours Emsland-Aller Aqua GmbH held the official opening of its new fish feed and protein factory in Germany.

More than 300 invited persons from all over Europe attended the grand opening ceremony in Golssen. The guest of honor was Brandenburg’s Ministerpresident, Mr. Matthias Platzeck.

With a complete investment over €20 million, this factory will become one of the most modern in Europe.

Emsland-Aller Aqua was founded in 2006 and is a joint-venture between Aller Aqua in Denmark, one of Europe’s leading fish feed producers and Emsland-Stärke from Germany, Europe’s second largest potato starch producer. In this joint-venture we have both more than 45 years of experience in fish feed production from Aller Aqua, as well as the know-how from Emsland-Stärke in protein production.

The complete organization in Germany has 40 employees.

Emsland-Aller Aqua, which took over the smaller “Kraftfutterwerk Beeskow” in December 2006, becomes the only fish feed factory of this size in Germany.

The new factory will produce feed for a variation of fish species, including trout, salmon, tilapia, bass/bream, carp, catfish and more. The feed will be sold in Germany and we are already selling to selected countries in Europe. As a matter of fact we see a huge interest in our products and we have already contracted feed for several new clients in Europe.

Protein Production

The factory in Golssen contains two production units. Namely the fish feed factory and also a pea protein factory.

Realizing the fact that aquaculture worldwide is increasing 5-10% per annum, we believe that it is necessary on a strategic level to look into our main raw materials and the supply of these. The largest is protein, which to a certain extent is supplied by fish meal. Fish meal production is stagnating and we have seen a very volatile world market over the past years.

The product which we produce in Emsland-Aller Aqua – pea protein – can to a certain extend substitute fish meal. So we believe that we have found a sustainable protein source which will allow us to grow the feed production along with the market. Bear in mind that pea as a crop does not need any fertilizer (Nitrogen) – this also counts, when talking about sustainability.

Fish meal will of course still be a major raw material for us - but we feel more comfortable by having several opportunities in the future.

Pea protein has high protein content 72% and also an amino acid profile and digestibility which matches fish meal perfectly. Emsland-Aller Aqua is the only fish feed producer worldwide that is also involved in this high-technology production of protein.

It’s our plan that a certain volume of the pea protein will be sold into the market. And we are very happy to see extremely high interest from all over Europe. Today the product is being used not only in fish feed but also in other applications such as pet food, piglet feed and many other diets.

We are all extremely happy that we now have reached our targets and the factory is ready! Our employees has done an outstanding job and I dare to say, that not many organizations can plan, build and bring a factory up and running in less than 8 months – I think we are close to a record… Our organization is fully committed to the big challenges we will step into now and I am sure that we will also here will be successful in achieving our ambitious targets!

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