China's top shrimp feed companies

Haid Group

Haid Group is a technology and service-oriented agricultural company, founded in 1998 in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province. Its current business covers feed, hatcheries, farming, genetics and food processing.

It claims to be China's biggest shrimp farmer by sales and the world's biggest shrimp seed producer, as well as a major shrimp feed supplier.

Its 2023 revenue rose 10.9 percent to CNY 116.1 billion ($16.1 billion). Operating profit, however, fell 8.1 percent to CNY 3.6 billion ($500 million) on the back of lower profits in its aquaculture business.

Its feed sales were around 24.4 million metric tons, a 13 percent year-on-year increase.

Of this, 1.8 million metric tons were sold to Haid's own aquaculture operations.

Feed supplies to external producers rose by 11.9 percent to 22.6 million metric tons.

The company ranked 201st by 2022 revenue on China's Fortune 500 list. It was 130th on China's Fortune 500 public companies list.

It is listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

Tongwei Group

Tongwei Group is made up of more than 300 subsidiaries both in China and internationally. It is a feed company first and foremost, with annual production capacity of 10 million metric tons, and, while it does service the livestock industry, its main business lies in aquaculture.

The company is also involved in shrimp hatchery production, aquaculture services and animal health. It has a particular focus on high-tech service products utilizing the 'Internet of Things' and Artificial Intelligence, including smartphone aquaculture and recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) technology, both in ponds and land-based.

Tongwei’s new CNY 1.2 billion (€152.9 million/$164.3 million) indoor RAS shrimp farm in Shandong province alone was expected to produce 10,000 metric tons in 2023 and as much as 1 million metric tons in the next five to 10 years.

The company is also one of few to have a relationship with a non-Chinese feed counterpart. In 2016, Tongwei teamed up with Danish aquaculture feed giant BioMar to acquire Wuxi feed company Haiwei, at the time a DKK 300 million (€40.3 million/$42.7 million) company with 120 employees.

Tongwei Group's 2022 turnover was CNY 151.76 billion ($21.1 billion).

It is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Hengxing (Evergreen Aquatic) Group

Guangdong Evergreen Group was established in 1998 and is a large-scale private company mainly engaged in aquaculture, processing, cold chain logistics and real estate development, with dozens of subsidiaries throughout Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Fujian and other regions.

Its shrimp aquaculture operations integrate hatcheries, feed production, aquaculture, seafood processing, imports and exports.

Like Tongwei and Haid, Evergreen is also investing in RAS indoor shrimp factory farming.

In 2017, Evergreen Guangdong was named the winner of the inaugural F3 Challenge, a global contest to drive innovation in the aquafeed sector and reduce the aquaculture industry’s reliance on marine ingredients like fishmeal and fish oil.

Yuehai Group

Founded in 1994, Yuehai Group listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2022. Its operating revenue rose 5 percent in 2022 to CNY 7.1 billion ($986 million).

Yuehai is a well-known aquaculture feed brand, with a strong marketing network. Its business covers a number of provinces across mainland China.

"In recent years, Yuehai Group has carried out a series of changes and adjustments in terms of organizational structure, team and incentives," said Nutreco's Yang, explaining that management structure had been streamlined and product lines increased, creating an "iron triangle" with marketing, service and product at the core.

Aohua (Alpha Feed) Group

Aohua, founded in 1998, covers aquaculture feed production and marketing and animal health, focusing on research into and the production and marketing of high-end aquaculture animal nutrients.

This "high-end" strategy is what Aohua uses to differentiate itself in the market. Its focus is on finely tuned, single product, iterative upgrading, made for different growing environments and technologies.

Its customer support network is also attuned to this strategy, with different teams and different farming packages according to local conditions and customer demand.

It owns more than 10 production bases both inside and outside the country, and its scientific research, production, and market share are ranked amongst the top in the industry.

Consolidation has changed the landscape in China's aquaculture feed sector