Cargill continues aquaculture expansion

Agricultural conglomerate Cargill Inc. has closed the purchase of Norwegian fish feed producer EWOS, marking the company’s largest bet on the aquaculture industry.

            EWOS controls about one-third of the global salmon-feed market, producing more than 1.2 million metric tons a year to raise farmed salmon. Cargill expects aquaculture, as fish farming is known, to grow globally.

            Over the summer, the company, based in the US State of Minnesota, dropped a $30 million dollar investment in a joint venture with Naturisa to build a new shrimp feed mill that will produce 130,000 metric tons annually and employ 260 people when the facility is fully operational in 2017.  Cargill will own 75 percent and have managerial control of the day-to-day operations, while Naturisa will retain 25 percent in the joint venture.