Nick Piggott was commenting after the company announced that it had signed an MoU with Sumitomo Corporation, a current investor in Nutrition Technologies, to distribute its Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL) derived products in the Japanese market for use in a range of sectors, including in farmed fish and shrimp and pet food applications.
Nutrition Technologies manufactures insect protein meal, oil, and frass. It already supplies a range of countries including Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, US, the EU, and the UK, and is looking to add Canada and Australia onto its export list.
Industrial production
In 2021, the company scaled up to industrial production with the launch of its two-hectare factory in Johor, Malaysia. It plans to build several similar size facilities across Southeast Asia in the next few years.
As a tropical species, the BSF larvae grow quickly and efficiently in the ambient Malaysian climate, meaning that very little energy is required to grow or breed the flies, and this approach reduces production costs, said Piggott.
While aquaculture is a more active market in terms of its use of insect meal, he believes the poultry feed and swine feed sectors will catch up in terms of their uptake.
Currently, the fastest growing part of the company’s business is in the supply of its frass product, into the fertiliser market in Southeast Asia.
