Marine Harvest’s latest Salmon Industry Handbook is a mine of information for industry, investors and consumers, and covers every aspect of salmon farming, including analysis of the company’s feed requirements and its share of the market since opening a 275,000 MT capacity feed plant in 2014. This represents a salmonid feed production of approximately 3.8 million MT.

The 90-page document illustrates that during the past decade, the salmonid feed industry in Norway has become increasingly consolidated, with three main producers, Skretting, EWOS and BioMar controlling the majority of the output. These companies have historically operated on cost-plus contracts, leaving the exposure of raw material prices with the aquaculture companies.

Global production of aquatic feed in 2014 is dominated by carp, which has a 44% share. Tilapia captures 20% of the market, other whitefish and freshwater fish 15%, shrimp 11%, and salmonids just 10%.

Within the salmonid segment, Atlantic salmon is the largest consumer of aquafeed, accounting for 83% of production, with large trout taking a 10% share and Pacific salmon 7%.

Most of the feed is manufactured close to where the salmon is farmed, and in 2014 Norway produced 45% of global feed for Atlantic salmon and Chile produced 33%.

The full report can be downloaded here.