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SHANGHAI: A Singapore-registered firm has been quietly working out a niche for itself in China.
T-Tech International is supplying first generation shrimp fry to farmers on the Chinese mainland, and hopes to grow its business so it can soon list on the Singapore Exchange.
The first generation Pacific white shrimp fry can be as long as 18 centimetres when fully grown. Easy to grow, they are also more resistant to diseases that commonly plague the breeding process.
T-Tech has become the first foreign firm to supply first generation shrimp fry to China.
Currently only about three per cent of all first generation shrimp fry in China are bred and sold on the mainland, and T-Tech believes there is potential for growth.
A farm can have an expected yield of 25 tonnes or about US$200,000 worth of shrimp fry for just one cycle. One cycle is about 90 to 120 days, allowing farmers to harvest twice yearly.
Traditionally, shrimp farmers in China grow second generation shrimp fry, or those that are less pure in breed. But so far, T-Tech noted that the response to its shrimp fry has been positive.
A shrimp farmer said: "I used to grow second generation shrimp fry but now I farm first generation ones. First generation shrimp fry are virus-free and grow faster."
China's Ministry of Agriculture expects consumption demand of shrimps on the mainland to increase by 30 per cent, and T-Tech is confident that it can meet the demand.
Executive director, T-Tech International Singapore, Alex Chin, said: "We can easily double it within a year if we're looking at the demand from the farmers' level. We will definitely double production levels every year for the next foreseeable future - for the next three to five years."
Only a year old, T-Tech expects to see returns of more than US$700,000 this year, and it is eyeing a listing on the Singapore Stock Exchange by 2011.
- CNA/yt
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