Aquaculture Feed Mill Buyer's Guide & Tender Preparation

1. Right-size the extrusion line

Extrusion capacity is the throttle of the entire plant. Typical modern lines run 4–12 t/h. Undersize and you starve your farm network; oversize and you carry a fixed cost you cannot fill. Model capacity utilization scenarios at 60%, 80% and 95% before locking a size.

2. Raw material handling and silos

Silo autonomy of 20–30 days for major macros (fishmeal, soy, wheat) is standard. Under 15 days is fragile in any port-disrupted country. Micro-ingredient handling deserves its own dosing loop with automated batching — manual dosing is a food-safety liability.

3. Formulation lab and QA

In-house formulation lab is non-optional for anything above 20,000 t/year. Wet chemistry (proximate, minerals), NIR calibration, aflatoxin screening, and pellet durability testing are the baseline. Budget $150K–$400K for the lab as a separate CAPEX line.

4. Energy per tonne is the OPEX driver

Modern extruded aquafeed lines consume 70–110 kWh/t and 90–140 kWh/t on drying. A 10% improvement is worth a percentage point on gross margin over 10 years — insist on energy guarantees and specify heat recovery.

5. Steam, boiler and dryer selection

Dryer sizing must handle the wettest feed formulation, not the average. Under-sized dryers force reduced throughput on high-oil formulations. Choose steam or thermal-oil based on local fuel economics.

6. Tender structure

Split into (i) civil, (ii) process package (raw materials → extrusion → drying → coating → cooling → bagging), (iii) electrical & controls, (iv) formulation lab. Process package on turnkey guarantees; civil and E&C locally.

Size it before you tender

FAQ