Rabobank sees bright future for aquaculture globally, and strong growth in Australia
SEAFOODNEWS.COM by John Sackton Oct 31, 2014
The latest Rabobank sector report, authored by Gorjan Nikolik and Matt Costello, who analyze animal proteins for the bank, focuses on Australia, and also the bright future for global aquaculture.
The driver for Rabobank is that seafood is the most efficient converter of feed to animal protein across all sectors. With a rising demand for animal protein, the seafood aquaculture sector is best positioned to respond.
"Due to increased global population growth and urbanisation, the ability to produce more with less is going to be a challenge in the future. It is estimated that, to satisfy the forecast food demand in 2050, an additional 200 million tonnes of meat is required to be produced. The feed conversion rate (FCR) for aquaculture – i. e. how efficient an animal is at converting feed inputs into protein – is ahead of all other animal protein sources. For example, salmon requires 1.2 kg of feed to produce 1 kg of output 1/1.2. At the other end of the spectrum, FCR for beef is around 1/8, and poultry is 1/1.8.
The main reasons why aquaculture is an efficient converter include:
-No gravity under water: no energy wasted when standing still;
-no need for a heavy bone structure...
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