RAS sizing and cost in South Korea.
Korean land-based aquaculture is built on olive flounder farming, now being upgraded from flow-through to recirculation, alongside new land-based salmon and indoor shrimp projects aimed at the domestic premium market. Water reuse, energy cost and disease control drive the conversion case. Size the system first, then apply the Korean benchmarks below.
Species in scope: Olive flounder (flatfish), Atlantic salmon land-based, whiteleg shrimp, abalone-adjacent and high-value marine species
Size the system for South Korea conditions
Run the sizing first. Tank volume, recirculation flow, biofilter media and oxygen duty are what turn a per-tonne benchmark into a budget that survives a bid comparison.
RAS sizing calculator
Recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) are sized around standing biomass, feed load and target density. This tool derives system volume, daily make-up water, TAN production, MBBR biofilter volume and oxygen demand — the five numbers every RAS engineer starts with.
Trout/salmon 40–80, tilapia 60–120
Modern RAS 3–10%
Planning estimate only: Final species assumptions, stocking density, water quality, biosecurity, system design, equipment sizing, production performance and financial outcomes must be confirmed by qualified independent professionals and the selected provider.
Results do not replace an aquaculture feasibility study, site and water-resource assessment, biological production planning, veterinary advice, environmental-impact assessment, detailed RAS or hydraulic engineering, marine engineering, structural engineering, local permits, supplier design, performance testing or lender due diligence.
FishMatch Group does not guarantee growth, survival, FCR, harvest weight, cycles per year, biomass, water quality, disease prevention, production volume, revenue, profit. Outputs are not legal, financial, engineering, tax or veterinary advice. Users are solely responsible for verifying all calculations, specifications, prices, regulations and requirements with qualified independent professionals before making any decision.
Supplier and manufacturer listings are provided for research, transparency and discovery only. FishMatch Group does not provide automatic buyer-supplier introductions. Every aquaculture project request is reviewed manually by David / FishMatch Group, and supplier introductions are made only after internal approval.
What is different about RAS projects in South Korea
Flow-through to RAS conversion is the dominant case
Many Korean flounder farms already exist as flow-through operations. The realistic project is conversion — adding filtration, biofiltration, oxygenation and heat recovery to reduce pumping and heating cost — not a greenfield build. Conversion CAPEX per tonne is generally lower but constrained by the existing tank layout.
Flatfish are area-limited
Olive flounder are held on tank floor area, so capacity follows kg/m² at a shallow water depth. Volumetric density rules from salmonid projects do not transfer and will misstate both capacity and required flow.
Heating and pumping dominate the OPEX case
Warming intake seawater through winter is the largest single cost in Korean flatfish farming. Heat recovery on the discharge stream is usually the strongest single economic argument for recirculation, and should be modelled explicitly rather than bundled into a general efficiency claim.
Disease control and effluent standards
Pathogen management and tightening effluent expectations favour intake sterilisation and treated discharge. Both change the equipment list and should be confirmed with the local authority before the scope is frozen.
Korean RAS sizing and cost benchmarks
Planning-grade bands for early budgeting and bid sanity checks — not quotations. Final pricing depends on site, scope and specification.
| Parameter | Typical range | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Typical project scale | 100–1,500 t/y flatfish; 500–3,000 t/y land-based salmon | Flounder farms are commonly clustered on Jeju and the southern coast. |
| CAPEX per tonne (flow-through to RAS conversion) | USD 8,000–16,000 /t/y | Planning band; reuses existing tanks and buildings. |
| CAPEX per tonne (greenfield land-based salmon) | USD 20,000–33,000 /t/y | Full building, seawater-grade materials and temperature control. |
| Stocking density | 25–45 kg/m² flatfish; 35–60 kg/m³ salmonids | Flatfish capacity is set by floor area, not tank volume. |
| Specific energy use | 4–7 kWh/kg produced | Heating and pumping dominate; heat recovery is the main lever. |
| New-water exchange | 5–30% per day after conversion | Partial reuse is common; near-zero exchange requires denitrification. |
Operator availability in South Korea
- Korea has a large, experienced flatfish farming workforce, so husbandry skill and daily operations staffing are not the constraint.
- Recirculation process expertise — biofilter start-up, nitrite and CO₂ control at reduced exchange — is the genuine gap when converting flow-through farms; budget structured training before the first low-exchange cycle.
- National fisheries research and university programmes supply technically capable graduates, and domestic engineering support for water treatment is available.
- Specify Korean-language operating documentation, hands-on operator training and a defined service response window in the RFQ; for conversions, also specify commissioning that runs alongside live stock rather than on an empty system.
Price and stress-test the sized system
Check the water budget, cost per kilogram and bid normalisation against the same scope before you talk to anyone.
- RAS system sizing calculator
Size tanks, flow rate, biofilter volume and oxygen supply from your target biomass and feed load.
Open calculator - RAS water turnover & exchange rate calculator
Check hydraulic retention time and daily new-water exchange against stocking density and feed input.
Open calculator - RAS feasibility & production cost calculator
Estimate cost per kilogram produced — feed, energy, oxygen, labour — before committing CAPEX.
Open calculator - RAS bid normalizer — compare supplier quotations
Compare RAS supplier quotes on identical scope so price, capacity and lead time line up line-for-line.
Open calculator
RAS in South Korea — FAQ
한국어
한국에서 순환여과식(RAS) 양식장 건설 비용은 얼마인가요?
계획 단계 기준으로 기존 유수식 넙치 양식장을 순환여과식으로 전환하는 경우 연간 생산능력 1톤당 약 8,000~16,000 US달러, 신규 육상 연어 양식장은 20,000~33,000 US달러 수준입니다.
넙치 양식장의 생산능력은 어떻게 산정하나요?
수조 바닥 면적 기준(kg/m²)으로 산정합니다. 넙치는 바닥에 머무는 어종이므로 연어류의 체적 밀도(kg/m³) 기준을 적용하면 생산능력이 과대평가되고 필요한 유량과 산소량이 과소평가됩니다.
경험 있는 RAS 운영 인력을 구할 수 있나요?
넙치 사육 인력은 충분히 확보 가능합니다. 다만 환수율을 낮춘 상태에서의 생물여과·수질 관리 경험은 부족하므로, 전환 프로젝트는 사전 교육과 활어 상태에서의 시운전 지원, 한국어 운전 매뉴얼을 계약 범위에 명시해야 합니다.
FishMatch Group is a managed sourcing service. Every brief is reviewed by a person before sourcing begins — suppliers are never contacted automatically and supplier identities are never exposed.
Short answer
What is the fastest way to get quotes for South Korea?
Submit one structured request for South Korea. FishMatch Group translates it into a technical RFQ, runs a confidential sourcing round with project-matched international suppliers, and returns comparable quotations. No fee is charged to the buyer, and your identity and project details stay private until you choose to proceed.
- How it works:
- One structured request, human-reviewed before any supplier outreach
- Typical turnaround:
- Depends on scope and site data; no turnaround is guaranteed
- Confidentiality:
- Supplier names are never exposed during evaluation
- Cost to buyers:
- No fee charged to the buyer
Before you request quotes
Costs & budgeting
How much does a commercial fish farm cost to build?
Budget ranges depend on system type, not on country alone. Pond and cage projects are usually the lowest capital per tonne of annual output, while recirculating (RAS) projects carry the highest equipment and energy share because filtration, oxygenation and backup power are mandatory. Reliable numbers come from a sized bill of quantities — species, target tonnage, water source and grow-out temperature — not from a generic price list. Use the FishMatch calculators to size the project, then submit an RFQ so quotes are priced against the same specification.
What drives the price differences between aquaculture equipment quotes?
Most spread between quotes comes from scope, not from margin: included spares, installation and commissioning, control and automation level, materials (HDPE vs steel vs FRP), certification and testing, delivery terms (EXW vs CIF) and warranty length. Two quotes are only comparable when they answer the same specification. A structured RFQ fixes the scope so differences reflect real engineering choices.
What operating costs should a business plan include?
Feed is normally the largest recurring cost, followed by energy (highest in RAS), labour, fingerlings or post-larvae, health management, water treatment consumables and maintenance. Financing cost and working capital for the first production cycle are frequently underestimated. FishMatch cost tools separate CAPEX from OPEX so the payback assumption is visible rather than implied.
Equipment scope
What equipment does a commercial aquaculture project actually need?
A grow-out project typically needs holding infrastructure (tanks, ponds or cages), water movement (pumps, piping, valves), aeration or oxygenation, water treatment appropriate to the system, feeding equipment, grading and handling gear, monitoring and alarms, and backup power. RAS adds mechanical filtration, biofiltration, degassing, disinfection and tighter process control. Hatchery and processing scopes are specified separately.
Which equipment should be specified before requesting quotes?
Specify the items whose sizing changes everything downstream: design biomass and stocking density, water exchange or recirculation rate, oxygen demand at peak temperature, and installed pumping head. With those four fixed, suppliers can quote aeration, filtration, pumps and power on the same basis. FishMatch calculators produce these figures and attach them to the RFQ.
Can equipment be sourced in stages?
Yes, and phased procurement is common. The usual sequence is water supply and holding infrastructure, then aeration and treatment, then automation and monitoring, then processing and cold chain. Staging works when interfaces and capacity headroom are defined at the start; otherwise later phases force replacement rather than addition.