Marel and Tianyun partner to pioneer advanced processing techniques

Xinjiang Tianyun Organic Agriculture Co., Ltd. was established in February 2014 and is located at the Kalasu Township (Salmon) Base in Nileke County, Ili, Xinjiang. Through years of experience accumulation, Tianyun has successfully developed the entire industrial chain. It is a national key leading enterprise in agricultural industrialization, a high-tech enterprise, a national agricultural and rural informatization demonstration base, and a national aquaculture seed industry formation enterprise. The company has received more than 50 honours, including the "National May 1st Labor Award," and holds more than 60 patents.

Marel began its business journey with Tianyun in 2020, starting with the first processing site in Urumqi. Since then, Tianyun's automation transformation has been underway. Through years of collaboration, both companies have reinforced their shared values and built a strategic partnership. Due to rapid business growth, Tianyun began procuring Marel solutions within two years and highly recognized Marel's expertise in the salmon and trout industries, as well as its reputation for automation. We are proud that Tianyun turns to Marel for assistance with their salmon and trout operations, and Marel is their exclusive secondary processing supplier.

Although Tianyun is located far from the sea, it's an incredible place, with pure, cold, and sweet water flowing from the mountains. Since last year, Tianyun’s new production base has been established in Nilka County, close to its trout farm. Marel’s salmon filleting solutions are in place to support the next milestone in Tianyun's future growth.

Tianyun, in navigating the global market, proudly holds various certifications like Global Aquaculture Alliance BAP and Global Food Safety BRC Certification. The company's achievements include Antibiotic-Free Product Certification and recognition for its "Tianyun," "Tianshan Leaping Salmon," and "Precious Trout" brands. Honors from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs further endorse Tianyun as a recommended brand in aquaculture and a model for agricultural product packaging labels.

Market Insight: Consumer Needs and Brand Cognition

After the epidemic, Tianyun observed a significant increase in demand for salmon from retail customers, particularly with a substantial rise in the order volume of offline supermarkets. While the salmon processing market has traditionally been considered a "category without a brand," Tianyun believes that through processing, the company's brand image can be highlighted, and value can be added to its products. Tianyun attributes the growth in demand for salmon to the purchasing power of consumers and the reliable quality of high-quality products in the market.

For the future development of the industry, Tianyun foresees that online sales may become the primary direction. Simultaneously, the industry will place greater emphasis on product quality, including traceability throughout the entire process of breeding, processing, and sales. In terms of regions, Tianyun is expanding its international market, especially in Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and individual European countries. Regarding brand image, Tianyun believes that relying on advanced processing technology is crucial.

Enterprise Investment: Intelligent Processing Leads the Future

Tianyun believes that the competitive advantage of processing enterprises lies in their quality and processing equipment capabilities, with automation and digitization being indispensable. To enhance competitiveness, Tianyun has invested various resources and strategies:

Firstly, the company focuses on controlling product quality, starting from the source of the product.

Secondly, through processing and packaging, products can better meet market demand.

Specifically, the company utilizes water from melted glacier snow from the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang as a high-quality water source for aquaculture, with its pure and cool characteristics. After three years of scientific and standardized farming, the company has achieved slow farming to ensure high-quality fish meat. Additionally, no medication is used throughout the entire process to ensure the safety and controllability of the product. Tianyun standardizes the entire process of its products, conducting multiple tests and assays starting from the effluent to ensure product quality and safety. Importantly, the company has developed the entire industry chain, meeting the diverse needs of customers for products.

Tianyun regards sustainable ecological aquaculture as the foundation of enterprise development and has invested a considerable number of resources and technology to serve sustainable development. Guided by this, more than 60 independently developed patented technologies are used in aquaculture production and processing, providing strong guarantees for energy conservation, environmental protection, and the sustainable development of business operations.

Marel SC 250 Slicer

The Marel SC 250 slicer is an ideal solution for high-speed slicing, with a production capacity of up to 250 slices per minute, or about 300 kilograms per hour. The slicer can achieve extremely high production without compromising the quality of sliced products.

The slicer is not only easy to clean but also features a user-friendly touch screen design and supports multiple software applications, further simplifying device operation. There are two versions of the SC 250: one with a cutting angle of 8-45°, providing greater flexibility than any standard slicer; the other version is a multi-angle version, with a cutting angle range of 10°-68°, capable of producing various final products.

In terms of product yield, the SC 250 is even more outstanding. Operators can use simple program settings to program slice contours, obtaining more slice improvements. The thickness and angle of the slice can vary throughout the entire fish fillet, increasing it by 10-20% and reducing the issue of unusable slices at the tail and head of the fish fillet.

This cooperation has shown us the future development direction of the food processing industry. Through advanced processing technology, high-quality equipment, and high standards for product quality and safety, we are confident in jointly creating more brilliance belonging to the brand and industry and presenting consumers with higher quality salmon products. This cooperation will be a new starting point for Marel and Tianyun to jointly promote industry development and promote the concept of sustainable development. We look forward to more cooperation and common achievements in the future!

About Tianyun

Xinjiang Tianyun Organic Agriculture Co., Ltd. is a fish farming, processing and retail leader located in the trout production base in Nilka County, Ili, Xinjiang. The company began by selling whole fish and fillets when it was founded in 2014. Today, Tianyun processes fish and sells portioned, sliced, filleted and whole fish to retail, restaurants and hotels across China. The company has built a complete salmon and trout value chain covering research and development, fry breeding, intelligent farming, processing, cold chain logistics, marketing and food services.

Tianyun is a nationally accredited high-tech company, a specialized and innovative “little giant” in Xinjiang autonomous region, and one of the Food Basket Guarantee Enterprises recognized by the NDRC. Tianyun has been accredited with the Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) Certification and HACCP certification.

The company breeds 8 million trout per year, with an annual capacity of 6,000 tons. As the new Trout Fresh project progresses, its capacity will increase to 10,000 tons within three years.

The company has created successful brands such as “Tianyun,” “Tianshan Salmon,” and “Tianshan Trout,” as well as the food brands “ZunGui” and “GuiLai.”