us barramundi sales go swimmingly

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12705132%255E643,00.html

US barramundi sales go swimmingly
Kevin Andrusiak
March 31, 2005

BARRAMUNDI, an Australian dining favourite, is quickly becoming a culinary delight in the US, making a small fortune for enterprising Perth-based company Australis Aquaculture.

And it seems Australians will miss out on tasting the fish at its best - unless they can book a table at a top US eatery.

Australis Aquaculture, which farms the fish at a plant near Boston, yesterday said it had sold all of its forecast US production until January 2006, cornering a niche market in the 2-million-tonne a year US fish supply business.

The company, which exports 300,000 barramundi fingerlings every seven weeks to grow at its Boston plant, said it would meet plant capacity of between 50 tonnes and 60 tonnes by the end of the year. This would earn the company up to $850,000 a month.

Australis managing director Stewart Graham said the company's fish farm in the US produced a better-tasting fish than that available in Australia.

His company had taken a gamble trying to introduce the fish to the US market, but now up-market restaurants were keen to put it on their menus.

"The outcome has been pleasantly surprising," Mr Graham said.

"The barramundi grow out better and taste better in the US because of clarity and temperature of the water, the feed mix and handling techniques.

"It produces an astonishingly delicious meal."

Australis has grown more than 250 per cent since its August listing on the Australian Stock Exchange.

Mr Graham said the plant would be upgraded and the long-term view was to build another plant with a maximum capacity to farm 5000 tonnes of barramundi a year.

Its US marketer Intersea Fisheries said the barramundi had become a hit. "I have never before experienced such a positive response to a relatively new item," Intersea director Nat Reiken said. "We have orders for more than we can supply even without orders from some larger customers." Australis shares closed up 5c to 74c.