USGC EMEA, SEA Offices Join For Third International Aquaculture Conference

Last week, the U.S. Grains Council’s (USGC’s) regional offices in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Tunis, Tunisia collaborated to host the Council’s third International Aquaculture Conference in Cairo, Egypt to promote the use of U.S. corn fermented protein (CFP) and distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) in aquaculture diets.

Nearly 50 attendees from across the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Southeast Asia and Oceania (SEA&O) regions gathered for the meeting and field visits to learn how to enhance aquaculture production through optimal nutrition.

“After the successes of the Council’s previous International Aquaculture Conferences, it became clear that hosting another meeting in Egypt, the third largest producer of tilapia in the world, would be hugely beneficial in sharing the nutritional qualities of U.S. CFP and DDGS to stakeholders in this rapidly developing region,” said Mohamed Salah Bouthour, USGC deputy regional director for Africa.

The event opened with welcome remarks from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA’s FAS) in Egypt and an outlook on global tilapia production given by the chairman of the Egyptian Lakes and Fisheries Resources. Other topics included overviews of production for several species and presentations from participants from various countries regarding the aquaculture industries in their regions.

USGC Director of Global Sustainability Carlos Suárez also spoke to the audience about the renewable attributes of U.S. corn co-products as ingredients for the aquaculture industry.

The conference continued with a day of visits to key industry stakeholders in Egypt, including Skretting, a major aquaculture producer, and WorldFish, a nonprofit research organization, to observe modern production techniques and learn about possibilities for future innovations.

The meeting culminated with USGC Regional Aquaculture Consultant Ronnie Tan leading a session on global aquafeed supply and demand and the role of DDGS in supplementing aquaculture diets. USGC Consultant Ayman Rostom then moderated a panel of representatives from the Egyptian aquaculture feed sector who discussed their extensive experience in using CFP and DDGS in their feeds.

Later, Bouthour moderated a panel discussion featuring conversations around the challenges in sourcing ingredients for aquaculture feed.

“The peer-to-peer learning found here is one of the success factors behind these events that gather participants from many countries,” said Ana Ballesteros, USGC deputy regional director for Europe & the Middle East.

“Recognizing the potential for impactful recommendations to emerge directly from fellow industry professionals, the Council encouraged end-users to speak about their experiences, including using U.S. corn co-products.”

USGC members in attendance, including The Andersons and TransGlobe, helped provide the audience with additional understanding of the nutritional benefits and sourcing considerations for CFPs and DDGS.

“Many leading aquaculture companies in SEA&O already incorporate DDGS into their feed compounds, but by sharing the latest research and visiting other facilities, the Council can help grow global demand for U.S. DDGS, creating better prices for U.S. producers and higher quality diets for aquaculture farmers,” said Caleb Wurth, USGC regional director for SEA&O.

Learn more about the Council’s work in corn and corn co-products here.