USSEC continues to promote soy in China’s aquafeed, as the country’s traditional aquafeed formula still contains many low quality vegetable protein meals other than soybean meal.  USSEC aquafeed consultant Tim O’Keefe traveled to China from Feb. 19 - Mar. 07, 2013 and visited feed mills in four provinces to provide technical assistance, gather feed ingredient information at feed mill level, and to work with technical managers at these mills formulating the diets for freshwater fish, marine fish and shrimp, which will be used in USSEC’s 2013 feeding trials and demonstrations conducted with preferred customers in China.

All of the aquafeeds formulated by Mr. O’Keefe will be soy-based and will include as much as 65% soy product including soybean meal, soy hulls, soy oil and soy phytochemical concentrate (SPC).  On average, the soy inclusion level recommended by USSEC is approximately 50% greater than that in China’s traditional aquafeed.  As more aquafeed mills and aqua farmers adapt to soy-based diets, demand for soy products from China’s aquaculture industry is expected to be further elevated.
USSEC Aquaculture Program Manager Jim Zhang, Freshwater Technical Manager Zhou Enhua and Marine Aquaculture Technical Coordinator for Asia Sean Lan escorted Mr. O’Keefe on this trip to meet these cooperators and partners.