Kingfish,Seriola lalandi. (Photo: CleanSeas)

CleanSeas to install a processing plant in Adelaide

Australian aquaculture producer, CleanSeas Seafood, plans to launch a new fish processing plant near the city of Adelaide.

The company announced it had signed a long-term lease on a 2500 sq m building in Royal Park, located in the western suburbs of Adelaide, where it will install cutting edge processing equipment.

Managing director, David Head, said the processing of the company’s kingfish (Seriola lalandi) is currently outsourced in Port Lincoln and Adelaide, but bringing the work in-house would create more control over quality, enable faster responses to large orders and support product development,The Advertiser reported.

“For an investment of about AUD 1.8 million (USD 1.3 million) we believe that having our own processing facility will allow us to increase our profitability by about AUD 1 million (USD 764,000) a year,” the director pointed out.

CleanSeas currently has a kingfish hatchery at Arno Bay and sea farms in the waters of Spencer Gulf just off Port Lincoln and Arno Bay. 

The processing facility is expected to be operational later this year and will offer additional space for expansion in value added production.

The building will also be used as a feed storage warehouse to reduce existing warehousing costs.

Clean Seas also reported strong sales growth in the six months to 31 December 2016, with sales of 1,086 tonnes, 45 per cent higher than the same period last year.

Farm prices improved earlier than expected and export prices also increased.

However, the company also informed that cooler than average seawater temperatures in the December quarter reduced fish growth. Live fish biomass at 31 December was 1868 tonnes, around 400 tonnes lower than forecast.

CleanSeas explained that the below-average biomass growth rate in the first half of FY 2017 gave rise to the need for unexpected assistance to address the structural imbalance between inventory and sales, which resulted in a lower-than-expected result.

As the water temperature returns to normal, the company's managers expect the biomass growth to be sufficient to support the sales growth objectives.

Clean Seas is targeting sales volumes this financial year of up to 2,500 tonnes. 

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Address:	PO Box 159
City:	Port Lincoln
State/ZIP:	(5606)
Country:	Australia
Phone:	+61 8 8621 2900
Fax:	+61 8 8621 2990
E-Mail:	[email protected]
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