Singapore-based Barramundi Group plans to start raising funds for its barramundi-farming expansion project in Australia in the third quarter of 2022, the company said in its quarterly update on 27 May.
The company estimates that the 10-year project, located off the West Kimberley Coast in Australia, will cost AUD 350 million (USD 251.3 million, EUR 233.3 million). Barramundi Group said it expects the project to employ between 350 and 400 people, and bring further business to the region as the company grows.
At present, Barramundi Group is working with environmental consultants to build a strategy that will develop the project in a sustainable way, including applying best management practices. The company has identified 13 potential marine sites for the project, with a capacity to raise around 30,000 metric tons (MT) of the fish a year. Barramundi Group also has a plan to build three land-based fish nurseries and a processing plant in the region to supplement the facility.
Barramundi Group has farming operations in Australia, Singapore, and Brunei, and sales and distribution networks in major cities around the world.
In Australia, the company runs a barramundi farm in the Buccaneer Archipelago, which it said is the largest barramundi farm in the country. The project produced 381 MT of the fish in the first quarter, down 17.7 percent year-on-year. The company said its sales prices were lower in the period, as the company has focused more on retail sales while narrowing sales to the food sector in Australia.
The output of Barramundi Group’s farm in Singapore grew 56.2 percent to 125 MT over January to March thanks to the recovery of demand from hotels and restaurants following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions.
In Brunei, the company is in the process of harvesting and processing 1.5-kilogram fish in initial farming trial there. Barramundi Group's expansion plan in Brunei is underway, and includes improvements to the biosecurity of its water supply at the existing land nursery, the expansion of the Pelong sea-site license capacity, obtaining a lease for a second land-based nursery and pre-growing site, and the submitting a request for a second sea site.
For the quarter, Barramundi Group reported a loss of AUD 5.9 million (USD 4.2 million, EUR 3.9 million) in the first three months of 2022. The loss was attributed to the adoption of a new financial reporting method that other listed seafood companies in the industry use.
“This means that all direct and indirect costs of producing the biomass are being capitalized as opposed to just juvenile and feed costs, as was done prior to 2022. As such, prior period financials are not being presented as these are not comparable,” the company said. Its revenue in the period also dropped 11 percent year-on-year to AUD 8.1 million (USD 5.8 million, EUR 5.4 million), partly due to the biomass adjustment.
Barramundi Group said it expects barramundi prices and harvest volumes to be stable in the remainder of 2022, but expects to continue to deal with recently realized cost increases, particularly feed costs.
Barramundi Group completed an initial public offering in August 2021. The company was founded in 2008 by ex-Marine Harvest executives Hans den Bieman and Joep Kleine Staarman. The company's CEO, Andreas von Scholten, said the company sees great promise in barramundi farming in the area between Singapore and Australia.
Photo courtesy of Barramundi Group
