BioMar plans big shrimp feed volume increase in Ecuador

Aquafeed producer BioMar has acquired the remaining 30% shares in BioMar Ecuador and will expand its production capacity in the South American country from 300,000 tonnes to 410,000 tonnes during 2026.

A further 200,000 to 300,000 tonnes of new capacity will follow soon after.

Denmark-headquartered BioMar said that following a successful partnership that quadrupled company feed volumes from 2019 to 2024, minority owner the Lanec family had agreed to hand over the full ownership of the company to BioMar.

“It has been an incredible journey together with Lanec. We were new to the Ecuadorian world of shrimp when entering the joint venture, and Lanec has been instrumental contributing to designing future product solutions while adapting our research to accelerate growth in Ecuador,” said BioMar Group chief executive Carlos Diaz in a press release.

“We are grateful to the family and team behind Lanec for being committed to a true partnership characterised by trust and innovation through the years of building the business together.

“We are extremely thankful that we can continue as strategic commercial partners going forward. I am sure, we will continue to contribute to mutual development.”

Pelletised feed

BioMar said it will increase the capacity of the production facility to 410,000 tonnes by “debottlenecking”, as well as through a new line for pelletised feed. This expansion project is expected to be completed in Q3 2026.

“We see a great potential for shrimp farming in Ecuador, and we are well-positioned to benefit from the growth in the market,” added Diaz.

“During the last years, we have moved from having a strong foothold among the small and medium size farmers to establishing long-term strategic collaborations with some of the largest farmers in the country, collaborating on building innovative feed solutions promoting a more efficient and sustainable aquaculture in Ecuador.

“In parallel with the current expansion project, we are working on an implementation of 200,000-300,000 tonnes additional capacity, which requires changes in our infrastructure of the site. This expansion will be necessary in order to meet the expected demand from our customers and will consist of a combination of lines for pelletised feed and lines for extruded feed. We expect that this project will be initiated in the first half of 2026.”