Development of domestic production of fish feed: reconstruction of the country's largest plant is being completed in the Smolensk region - VNIRO
16 July 2025

Development of domestic production of fish feed: reconstruction of the country's largest plant is being completed in the Smolensk region

The enterprise JSC "GK MELKOM" plans to produce 108 thousand tons of products per year. The recipes were developed jointly with the State Research Center of the Russian Federation FGBNU "VNIRO", subordinate to the Federal Fisheries Agency, the physiological characteristics of fish, stages of cultivation, as well as the requirements for the environmental safety of water bodies were taken into account. The priority is the production of feed for salmon, sturgeon and carp species.
 
At the initial stage, it is planned to launch two production lines with a total capacity of 15 tons per hour. The enterprise is expected to create 400 jobs, recruitment and training of personnel has already begun.
 
Over the past 10 years, the area of water used for fish farming in the country has increased 2.5 times (from 225 thousand hectares in 2014 to 566.8 thousand hectares in 2024).
 
The volume of aquaculture production has increased more than 2 times compared to 2015. At the same time, enterprises are gradually abandoning foreign fish feed, and demand for Russian products is growing.
 
Measures of state support have been adopted that contribute to the development of the segment.
 
“Domestic companies are increasing the production volumes of highly productive fish feed. Thus, a production chain is being formed that is independent of imported supplies. This is a contribution to ensuring the country's food security,” noted the head of the Federal Agency for Fisheries Ilya Shestakov.
 
Enterprises actively use domestic scientific developments, and VNIRO feed recipes have been introduced at a number of plants. In addition, industry science creates components that successfully replace foreign analogues. Thus, comprehensive studies were conducted on the supplement “Fidaktiv Pink”, comparable in its effectiveness to the imported component “Carophyll Pink”. The ingredient is included in the recipes for trout feed of 2 large Russian manufacturers.
 
Source: United Press Service of the Federal Agency for Fisheries