Blue Star Foods reported a net loss of USD 3.7 million (EUR 3.6 million) in the third quarter of 2022, but it increased its quarterly revenue from its soft-shell crab recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) to USD 500,000 (EUR 481,000).
The Miami, Florida, U.S.A.-based seafood supplier reported a 28 percent revenue increase to USD 10.7 million (EUR 10.3 million) for the first nine months of the year. It had posted losses of USD 1.4 million (EUR 1.4 million) in Q2 2022 and a loss of USD 162,000 (EUR 156,000) in Q2 2021.
“Our top-line revenue has continued as expected and we believe we remain on track to nearly double revenue for all of 2022,” Blue Star Chairman and CEO John Keeler said in a press release.
The company hopes to convert USD 6.1 million (EUR 5.9 million) worth of inventory into revenue over the next four months, as compared to the USD 10 million (EUR 9.6 million) revenue the company generated in all of 2021, Keeler said.
Blue Star’s soft-shell crab RAS operations began in March 2022 “and we are pleased with the early results and USD 1 million [(EUR 962,000] revenue contribution over the past two quarters,” Keeler said. He said the company had already spent USD 500,000 in engineering design costs on the facility's expansion.
The company’s third-quarter loss “typically occurs due to frontloading discounting for contract retention, that we believe will benefit future quarter earnings and profits,” Keeler said.
Blue Star detailed expansion plans for its soft-shell Atlantic crab RAS farm in Jasper County, South Carolina, U.S.A. in August 2022. The company acquired the facility when it purchased Gault Seafood in December 2021. Blue Star will begin operations in the expanded facility in the second quarter of 2023, and expects the first commercial harvest in the third quarter of 2023. When it's fully built, the new facility will be able to "harvest over 220,000 dozen" soft-shell Atlantic blue crab annually, according to Keeler.
“We strongly believe our planned RAS expansion will be a major differentiator for us and contributor to accelerate revenue growth and profitability,” Keeler said. "Our incremental investment in our sustainable indoor fish-farming technology and processes continues to ramp as we position for our new operations in South Carolina, to replace our existing facility in South Carolina.”
Looking toward the end 2022 and into 2023, Keeler said Blue Star remains “on track to restore our legacy business to pre-pandemic levels of approximately USD 20 million [EUR 19 million] of annual revenue and advance the construction phase of our transformational soft-shell crab RAS facility.”
Blue Star also owns Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada-based Taste of BC Aquafarms, which produces salmon in an RAS facility.
