Avanti Feeds Limited is a leading Indian company engaged in the manufacturing and supply of high-quality shrimp feed and the processing of shrimp for export. Established in 1993, the company has played a crucial role in India’s aquaculture industry, contributing to the growth and development of shrimp farming.
This article covers the key highlights of the management’s commentary from the Q3 FY25 earnings conference call.
Financial Performance Summary (Consolidated & Standalone)
| Metric | Q3 FY25 | Q3 FY24 | YoY Change | 9M FY25 | 9M FY24 | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Consolidated Gross Income | ₹1,405 Cr | ₹1,287 Cr | +9.17% | ₹4,343 Cr | ₹4,185 Cr | +3.8% |
| Consolidated PBT | ₹184 Cr | ₹116 Cr | +59% | ₹526 Cr | ₹386 Cr | +36% |
Standalone Feed Division
| Gross Income | ₹1,077 Cr | ₹958 Cr | +12.4% | ₹3,493 Cr | ₹3,373 Cr | +3.6% |
| PBT | ₹166 Cr | ₹76 Cr | +118% | ₹465 Cr | ₹288 Cr | +61% |
Shrimp Processing Division
| Gross Income | ₹328 Cr | ₹330 Cr | -0.6% | ₹855 Cr | ₹820 Cr | +4.3% |
| PBT | ₹18 Cr | ₹40 Cr | -55% | ₹68 Cr | ₹104 Cr | -35% |
Raw Materials
The major raw materials for the company are fish meal, soybean meal, and wheat flour.
The noticeable development in this quarter is the softening of two major raw materials that are fish meal and soybean meal prices resulting in an improvement in profitability.
Raw Material Price Trends (Per Kg)
| Raw Material | Q3 FY25 | Q2 FY25 | Q3 FY24 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fish Meal | ₹93 | ₹105 | ₹128 | ↓ Softening |
| Soybean Meal | ₹46 | ₹49 | ₹53 | ↓ Softening |
| Wheat Flour | ₹35 | ₹32 | ₹31 | ↑ Rising |
Consumption of Feed
the status of aquaculture activity conditions such as climate changes, diseases, etc, determine the consumption of feed in terms of volume, which will have an impact on the overall performance of the industry.
Favorable climatic conditions supporting farmers to rehire made the farmers to reharvest from September, extending the season up to December 2024, raising higher consumption of feed during Q3 FY ’25 compared to that corresponding period of the previous quarter year.
Shrimp Feed Consumption
On the basis of estimated shrimp production of about 10.5 to 11 lakh metric tons of feed consumption is estimated in the year 2024. The company’s feed sales during the 9 months FY ’25 is 425,537 MT as against 496,089 MT in 9months period FY ’24.
Shrimp Processing and Export
India seafood exports touched INR 1,781,602 MT; an all-time high in volume during the fiscal year ’23-’24. Frozen shrimp remained the major export item in quantity and value, accounting for a share of 40% in quantity and 66% of the total dollar earnings.
The company’s shrimp exports during FY ’24 was 13,443 MTs as compared to 12,497 for FY ’23, an increase by 946 MT’s. It is estimated that the exports during FY’25 would be around 15,000 MT’s.
Update on the Fish feed Plant
The company will import fish feed from Thai Union Feed Mill Limited and conduct trails of fish feed under Indian conditions. Once the product performance is approved and accepted in the market, the production in India will be taken up for the domestic sale of fish feed.
Status of Pet Food Project
The company has tied up with our Bluefalo Company Limited, Thailand, a well-known pet food and pet care product manufacturing company in Thailand, to set up a joint venture company in India with an equity investment by them along with the transfer of technology.
Avanti Pet Care has successfully commenced a trading in cat food from January 2025. It’s company’s first product range under the Avanti Pet Care brand that is Avant Furst, starting with the cat food.
The company have a plan to import pet food products from the Bluefalo Thailand. Till such time, Indian factory commence the production and sales. Currently, the products are available in five cities in India, that is Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.
The company has purchased about 30 acres of planning to set up the manufacturing facilities. The planning for the state of art manufacturing facility in Hyderabad is in progress.
Strong Start to Aquaculture Season (Jan 2025)
the first season, which is the major aquaculture season for India that is started from end of the middle of January and it is progressing very well. So the climatic conditions and other factors have helped to take off very smoothly, and with the good farm gate prices, the farmers are very much interested in increasing the area cultivation.
The company does not have seen any major hurdles as far as the culture is concerned. So it is expected that the production will be at the same levels as in the last year and maybe slightly about 5% more than what was in the last year.
Focus on Value-Added Products
The company moves to value-added products, the company sees value creation as not many competitors are focusing and people will have ready-to-eat as well.
However, the levy of CVD, which is at 5.77% now by the U.S., is an additional burden to the export of shrimps to the U.S., which is the largest export market for the company.
Export Market Diversification
the endeavor of the company is to expand its global markets to other destinations like Japan, Korea, EU, Middle East for which all efforts are being made by the company.
Question and Answer Session Highlights
could you share the timeline for the pet food plant in Hyderabad?
we are expecting that, see, the land has been purchased and we are in the process of getting the approvals as survey and other things. And also, we are in consultation with Bluefalo Thailand. We are preparing the drawings of the factory and list of plant and machinery, indigenous imported and other civil works, all these planning works is progressing. So, once we start, we are expecting that by end of ’26, we should be able to come out with our own production by end up December ’26.
What is our total capacity as of now in the processing segment? And with all those because right now, if I’m not wrong, all our capacities have come on stream, right?
Right now, like we’re scaling up the production, this is a labor-intensive process. We have like over 2,000 workers working at these facilities, so we need to train them and everything. So, I would say currently, during the season, we’re at full capacity, off season because there’s no raw material during it’s a very seasonal business, so we would say about 50%. Net through the year were about 60% to 65% and this will be scaled up to at least 80% in the next 4 to 5 quarters.
The pet feed business. So earlier you had indicated that you will share the numbers related to the overall market size. And maybe just to add on that, do we have the visibility on what is the kind of revenue that we are targeting in this business segment and the kind of margins that we would get?
See, the pet population in India is around 40 million. So out of that, dogs are 32 million, which is 80%, and the cats are 8 million, which is 20%. The market size is expected to be around INR 50,000 million, growing at a 20% CAGR year-on-year. So, it is expected to go between 15% to 20%. So, the total market size is around 221,000 or around 225,000 to 310,000 metric tons. So, we are expecting to make an entry into the market. So, we are as of not sure, but the market size is 3 lakh metric tons overall, pet food market.
So as of now, the market size has been increasing at 20%. We’ve just launched our cat food recently. It’s been a month. The acceptance of the cat food is very good. We are placing it in stores, in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore. We’re looking to further expand to the North of the country after consolidating in the South. And also, we’re going to launch — we have only launched one flavor as of now, and we’re going to launch a few more flavors in the coming months and also the dog food maybe by July.
The shrimp feed business exports, is what percentage of sales as of now? And do you see scope to increase exports in the feed business going forward in the next 3 to 5 years?
Yes. In the feed export to feed, we are making lot of efforts even to the Middle East, and we are exploring the markets there. So, these are, see, there are Bangladesh is a little always some trouble state which is getting and Sri Lanka is like that. So, initially, we have a very good response from Bangladesh, but simultaneously, we have in Middle East also. We should be able to increase our export sales. And they are giving good results. Venkata Sanjeev, can you throw more light on this export to our Middle East?
I just wanted to understand on the pet food division, you mentioned that right now you are importing and selling in the market. What brand is this under and when do you expect the that food plant to be ready? And how much of that will be used for domestic and exports?
The brand name is Avant Furst will be launched the cat food has already been launched and the dog will also be launched on the same name AVANT FRUST.
The plant to which we are expecting is will be ready by end of ’26. December ’26 where the project will we are working for that. It will be completed by ’26 and start December ’26 and commercial production will start then.