Two months after confirming the acquisition of Ecuadorian feed manufacturer Alimentsa, BioMar has announced the establishment of a new trial facility for shrimp, the ATC Aquaculture Technology Center, in Ecuador.

“This is a part of our overall expansion strategy,\" explained BioMar CEO Carlos Diaz. \"We basically take the required decisions to build a strong, competitive and innovative foothold in the shrimp market. The investment in Ecuador is a tangible outcome of a much greater plan for innovation in BioMar. The global R&D budget will increase by roughly 20 % in 2018, which comes on top of a dedicated global set-up for R&D implemented over the last years.\"

\"We are moving into several new geographies and new species, and this requires an increase in R&D activities,\" elaborated Havard Jorgensen, Global R&D Director. \"Our global set-up based in Trondheim is complemented with our ATC (Aquaculture Technology Centre) innovation network, which includes ATC Patagonia in Chile, ATC Nordic with facilities in Denmark and Norway as well as now our ATC in Ecuador. Here we will mainly focus on shrimp, strengthening our set-up and allowing a faster take to market.\"

“We experience that the most innovative feed solutions are generated when local market potential is being met with solid scientific methodology, boosted by in-depth knowledge from aquaculture hotspot across the globe. Ecuador has developed into one of the most important shrimp producing nations and has in many aspects taken alternative roads. This makes it a very interesting hub for product development”, concluded Carlos Diaz.

BioMar for some has years been supplying shrimp grower diets from Costa Rica and shrimp larval diets from France to customers around the world. The company will also within a few months launch its’ shrimp range in China.