ADM has inaugurated its Tianjin Early Nutrition Aqua Feed Facility. Now operational, the facility primarily produces early nutrition aquafeed products for fish and shrimp, targeting hatchery and nursery stages. With the opening of the new facility, ADM is further expanding its local manufacturing capabilities in China and strengthening coordination among its APAC research and development (R&D) resources, Chinese production facilities and global aquaculture applications.
"The Tianjin facility enables us to produce specialized hatchery and nursery feeds closer to customers in China and across APAC, while further improving regional supply efficiency," said Eric Carfi, general manager, animal nutrition, China, at ADM. "Hatchery feed is a highly specialized field. The product itself is only one part of the solution; just as important is how we connect R&D, production and customer applications. Innovation in advanced nutrition is one of the pillars of our growth strategy, and by combining ADM's longstanding experience in R&D, formulation and application with this new local manufacturing capability, we can better translate global expertise into products and services that meet the practical needs of customers in China and across APAC."
Following its long-established facility in Belgium, the Tianjin site is ADM's second production facility dedicated to aquaculture hatchery and nursery feeds, reflecting 25 years of international expertise in early-stage nutrition. The facility applies ADM's global quality standards to local production in China. It has an annual design capacity of approximately 5,000 metric tons and can produce products in a range of particle sizes from 50 microns to 3 millimeters, helping meet the feeding needs of fish and shrimp during early growth stages. The facility uses cold micro-extrusion and marumerization to produce highly water-stable micro-particles that help maintain nutrient integrity in water, supporting access to critical nutrients for fish and shrimp throughout the feeding period.
Leveraging Tianjin's port and location advantages, the facility will serve customers in China as well as other APAC markets, further strengthening ADM's China manufacturing capabilities and improving supply efficiency across APAC.
China has a large aquaculture industry. According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the country's aquaculture output exceeded 63 million metric tons in 2025, up 4.38% year on year. As aquaculture production continues to expand, the industry is placing increasing attention on seedstock quality and nutrition management during the early life stages.
Connecting global R&D with local production
ADM has 25 years of expertise in aquaculture hatchery and nursery nutrition, and its business in this field spans more than 60 countries and regions. ADM's APAC Aquaculture R&D Center in Vietnam has long conducted fish and shrimp nutrition research and application trials, supporting formulation development, product validation and research into aquaculture applications.
"With the Tianjin facility now operational, ADM has further strengthened coordination among its APAC R&D resources, local production in China and market applications. The Vietnam R&D center provides research and trial support, while the Tianjin facility carries out local production of hatchery feeds. Drawing on farming needs and application feedback from China and other APAC markets, ADM continues to advance formulation validation and product optimization," said Marc Campet, technical sales director, animal nutrition, APAC, ADM.
On the product front, the Tianjin facility will manufacture specialized hatchery feeds, with a wide range of products including MeM and MeM Prime, for customers in China and other APAC markets. The MeM range is primarily used during the late larval and nursery stages. It uses a cold micro-extrusion process and offers different particle sizes for different growth stages to accommodate feeding characteristics and nutritional requirements during the nursery stage.
During the hatchery and nursery stages, fish and shrimp develop rapidly, while their feed intake capacity is limited and their nutritional requirements are more specific. Different species and growth stages have varying requirements for feed particle size, palatability, nutrient supply and water stability, creating a need for more specialized product design, production processes and application support.
Beyond specialized hatchery feeds, ADM also provides specialty feeds, feed ingredients, feed additives, probiotics, premixes and related technical support for later grow-out stages. With the addition of hatchery feed capacity at the Tianjin facility, ADM's aquaculture nutrition products and services in China now extend further into the early stages of aquaculture production, creating a more complete portfolio of products and services from hatchery and nursery through grow-out.
