The fish feed producer Yamaha Nutreco Aquatech Co., Ltd (YNA), which is owned 50/50 by Nutreco Holding BV and Yamaha MC, has announced the change of the company name to Skretting and the appointment of Mr Rik van Westendorp as its new president.
On 1 April 2005 YNA acquired 100% of the shares of Kirin Feed, a subsidiary of Kirin Beer Co. in Japan. (See Nutreco’s fish feed joint venture in Japan acquires Kirin Feed [04/04/2005]). The Kirin feed business and the YNA business will now be merged. Kirin Feed markets fish feed for yellowtail, sea bream, eel and other farmed fish with a total volume in 2004 of 20,000 tonnes and sales of EUR 20 million. With this transaction YNA will strengthen its competitive position on the Japanese fish feed market. To facilitate this and make the staff of both companies feel at home in the new company, the company will change its name to Skretting.
Skretting is the identity used by all the fish feed companies of Nutreco, which is the world leader in fish feed. There are Skretting fish feed companies in Europe, North and South America and in Australia. Skretting has a reputation as a technical leader and is supported by the Nutreco Aquaculture Research Centre, which is a source of knowledge and new product concepts.
“We hope that the Skretting name will give our customers confidence that they will benefit from the experience and R&D that we have in fish feeds world wide. Skretting will provide them with the best feeds to produce their fish economically and with high growth rates,” says Rik van Westendorp.
“There are many global issues that challenge fish farmers and fish feed producers these days. Food safety, scarcity of raw material supplies and the image of our industry are among these challenges to the growing aquaculture business. We expect that the new name, Skretting, will give our customers confidence that they are the customers of the world’s largest and leading producer of fish feed. To build here in Japan a new leading company will unite all our staff,” says Mr Westendorp.
Mr Rik van Westendorp will be transferred by Nutreco to Japan as President of Skretting in Japan. He is Dutch and has worked for Nutreco for more than eight years in the Netherlands, Norway, and Poland.
“The new company Skretting in Japan has a good future and I look forward to working with all colleagues to provide the best feed and service to our customers. We expect Japan to have a promising future in aquaculture, not only because of the high seafood consumption in Japan but also because of its many good farming locations, which means it is highly suitable for farming fish, as also are many locations in the rest of the Asian region.”
Mr. Joep Kleine Staarman, who started the company in Japan under the name YNA, will now concentrate on fish farming and sales activities as regional manager for Marine Harvest in the Asia Pacific region. Marine Harvest is planning to merge with Stolt Sea Farm. The new Marine Harvest will be owned 75% by the Dutch Nutreco and 25% by the American/Norwegian Stolt-Nielsen.
In his new function Joep Kleine Staarman will be responsible for farming and fish sales in Japan and he will serve as a director on the board of Skretting in Japan.
