Singapore-based company Entobel has launched a state-of-the-art black soldier fly larvae (BSL) production facility in Vietnam, boasting an impressive capacity to yield 10,000 tons of protein meal annually. Touted as the “world’s most CAPEX-efficient BSF production facility,” the plant produces protein meal, oil, and fertilizer (insect frass/waste), establishing itself as one of the largest insect production facilities globally and certainly in the Asian region, according to cofounder Alexandre de Caters.
In comparison, Innovafeed’s BSL facility in Nesle, France, produces 15,000 tons of protein yearly, while Aspire’s plant in Canada is gearing up to manufacture 12,000 tons of cricket protein annually. Meanwhile, Cricket One’s newly established cricket plant in Vietnam starts with a capacity of 1,000 tons, with aspirations to expand to 10,000 tons in the next five years.
Key players in the Vietnamese feed industry have extensively tested Entobel’s products over the past four years across various applications, from shrimp and sea bass to pigs. The demand for volume has been eagerly awaited, with Entobel’s facility expected to meet this need.
Alexandre de Caters noted, “The insect protein industry was quite trendy a few years ago, and there were some big funding rounds in Europe. And then I think the industry disappointed a little bit in that milestones were not achieved. So, at Entobel, we’ve stayed under the radar and focused on execution, not making too much noise until we had something to say. But I hope that now, it’s time for Entobel to shine a bit more and demonstrate it’s possible to produce industrial volumes of insect protein at a competitive cost.”
Entobel anticipates profitability for the facility by early next year, and CFO Sandy Singh Sandhu emphasized the significance of demonstrating tangible achievements in an industry where capital has often not yielded anticipated outcomes.
