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The aquaculture industry in Romania is dominated by the farming of cyprinids in earthen ponds and reservoirs. Around the turn of the century the cultivation of rainbow trout started and production has grown steadily since then. Trout is now perhaps the single most important species farmed in Romania.

The forecasted growth in farmed Atlantic production in Norway this year is marginally below last year at around 4%. However, so far, significantly higher volumes have been absorbed by the markets, leading to expectations for a tighter supply situation in the second half of 2015. In Chile, harvest volumes have shown a sharp decline compared with last year, but a weak economy in Brazil, volcano eruptions, customs strikes and a buyer backlash over higher antibiotic use have complicated operations and kept demand low. Meanwhile, the wild salmon markets are braced for what are expected to be abnormally large global harvests for multiple species, boosting supply further in what is already a buyer’s market.

Mussels are the most traded bivalves in the world, with international trade during the first quarter 2015 totalling about 70,000 tonnes. The first few months of 2015 were very positive for the Chilean mussel industry with exports quickly growing.

The carp farming industry in Romania has been going through a minor revolution. As feeds, technology, and management have improved, and ponds have become smaller, yields have risen from one tonne per hectare two decades ago to three tonnes per ha today.

Agromey is among the largest producers of seabass and seabream in Turkey with an annual production capacity of 15,000 tonnes. The company, like other big producers, is integrated with its own feed production division, fish cultivation, processing, packaging and distribution.

In a sector crowded with farming and processing companies Akuvatur stands out for its approach, which differs in several respects from other producers. Owned by an academic, Dr Haluk Tuncer, Akuvatur has concentrated on species other than seabass and seabream. In addition, the company grows fish to sizes that are usually larger than the typical market-sized fish.

Kiliç Seafood is Turkey’s biggest producer of farmed fish, cultivating seabream, seabass, meagre, and trout with a total annual production capacity of approximately 40,000 tonnes. The company is fully integrated with hatcheries, feed production, processing, sales, marketing and distribution. Its products are exported to 44 countries around the world making it Turkey’s leading exporter in this sector.

Kopuzmar was established in 1991, but operations actually started five years earlier when the company put 600 gilthead seabream juveniles in cages in the sea. Since then the company has grown significantly, producing juveniles and fish feed, farming seabream and seabass, and processing fish in to value added products.

More Aquaculture is a producer and exporter of seabass, seabream, meagre and trout. The company has its own production of seabass and seabream and a network of suppliers that provide the company with the trout that it requires to meet its commitments. More has been in the aquaculture business for the last 13 years and is owned by the AKG Group, a conglomerate with interests in building materials and tourism apart from fish.

While Turkey is now well known for its seabass and seabream farming operations, production from which exceeds even that of Greece, the country also has a huge trout industry. Annual volumes of trout dwarf those of seabass and seabream and amount to almost three fifths of total EU trout production.