Recently, "the information that C.P. Thailand has launched a new fast-growing shrimp strain, which is not shipped from Thailand but from Florida, the United States" has aroused speculation in the industry.

According to reports, Homegrown Shrimp USA (HGS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF) in the United States, and American Mariculture (AM) announced an exclusive sales agreement to distribute Charoen Pokphand to specific global markets through AM. A new strain of vannamei shrimp cultivated in the Florida base of the United States.

It is reported that C.P. shrimp products will be marketed through American Broodstock Corp, a subsidiary of AM, and will be shipped from Florida, USA from October 1, 2022, including Turbo Power (ultra-fast growth), Kong Power (relatively balanced), Fire Power (high survival rate), Dragon Power (high disease resistance and stress resistance) four strains. Among them, the first two strains come from C.P., and the latter two strains are developed by AM Company.

C.P.'s Homegrown Shrimp project in the United States

Most industry players are not familiar with American Mariculture, but everyone should be familiar with the API high resistance species. API (American Shrimp Inc., full name American Penaeid, Inc.) is a subsidiary of AM. The industry is very curious. Two shrimp companies, and one of them is the famous C.P., why choose to cooperate with AM? What are the characteristics of the shrimp they launched? What is CP. planning? What impact will it have on the shrimp breeding market in the future? To this end, Aquatic Reporter interviewed Robins McIntosh, executive vice president of C.P. Foods and project leader of Homegrown Shrimp USA (HGS), and asked him to explain the story behind this cooperation.

Robins McIntosh, executive vice president of CPF and project leader of Homegrown Shrimp USA (HGS) (left 2)

Aquaculture Journalist: Why did you choose to set up the Homegrown Shrimp project in the United States, and what is the purpose?

Robins McIntosh: This is an initiative of CPF to provide technical and related service support to the local shrimp farming industry in the United States. Due to regulations and climatic conditions, it is difficult for the shrimp farming industry in the United States to develop in coastal areas. Most of the time, shrimp farming needs to be developed in very cold areas, which requires maintaining a tropical environment. This also means that the development of the shrimp farming industry in the United States must be recycled water (RAS), and must be carried out indoors. And because there is no high quality shrimp with fast growing characteristics locally, we had to develop an inland RAS hatchery. This has been done initially. Homegrown's hatchery, which supplies the US and Europe with high-quality shrimp, is in the final stages of construction and should be ready for production by December this year.

Aquaculture Journalist: What are the characteristics of the BOLT (Bolt) strain of shrimp?

C.P. has developed the fastest-growing species of shrimp so far—the BOLT (Bolt) strain

Robins McIntosh: Homegrown Shrimp USA uses and sells what we call the BOLT strain. This strain was bred for growth rate only, with little emphasis on disease resistance (as it should be disease free in a recirculating aquaculture system). The growth rate of BOLT exceeds that of other shrimp strains, and again, it was specifically bred for very biosafety recirculating aquaculture systems, where growth rate represents all economic benefits.

Aquaculture Journalist: C.P. has its own sales channel for breeding shrimp. Why did you choose to cooperate with AM to sell breeding shrimp, and they also produce and sell brood shrimp. Is there any conflict of interest?

Robins McIntosh: The agreement with AM came about because they had an existing shrimp multiplication facility and were USDA-approved for export to many countries. Specifically, we are interested in selling C.P. shrimp from its origin in the United States to India and Indonesia, as well as South America, which is very close to the United States. The agreement allows Chinese customers to choose where to buy C.P. seedlings: from Homegrown in the United States or C.P. from Thailand. We believe that there is no conflict of interest, but can provide our customers with more supplier choices.

Aquatic Journalist: Will these kinds of shrimps also be sold to China? what is the price?

Robins McIntosh: AM will supply these strains of shrimp to China, and all pricing depends on them. The commercial agreement between the two parties is the relevant technology license, and AM pays Homegrown Shrimp fees to pay for the genetic resources of the shrimp. AMs have full control over their business, including pricing.