Rabobank\'s latest report, How to succeed in Aqua Feeds, states \"the aquafeed industry will need to think out of the box to find growth. After years of growth, the aquafeed industry is expected to experience a deceleration with increasing overcapacity in nearly all key markets globally. The causes vary and are often region-specific.

The report states that the industry is embarking on a transformation driven by multiple technological developments that are all moving from the start–up or laboratory phase to a commercial scale in the next five years. This is an opportunity for aquafeed companies to once again become more than just feed suppliers.

According to Gorjan Nikolik, senior analyst – seafood, “aquafeed companies can respond to the maturing fish farming industry by combining feed with a range of complementary inputs, such as genetics, animal health products, data analysis solutions, hardware, and farm management software, in order to extract previously unobtainable synergies.”

Nikolik also said that aquafeed players are well-positioned to act as investors in a number of rapidly evolving aquaculture technologies, ranging from novel ingredients to new farming techniques, such as recirculating aquaculture systems or offshore aquaculture. He suggests that by (partially) transforming into aqua-technology suppliers or aqua-venture capitalists, feed companies may be able to enter the higher-growth and higher-profitability segments of the aquaculture inputs industry and drive the growth of the entire aquaculture industry.