It’s known from the company’s report that the proceeds raised through the share would be used to fund its huge prawn aquaculture project, Project Sea Dragon (PSD), including stage 2 development of PSD. The funds would principally be applied to secure indigenous land use approval, finish basic construction and launch further domestic and international marketing and brand development of PSD. The project is initiated in 2011 and it has consumed an amount up to 60 million AUD. With the funds, the bankable feasibility study is expected to be completed by the end of 2016 and the construction to begin in the third quarter of 2017.
Earlier, Seafarms acquired the share option of a cattle farm owned by Legune and planned to transform it into prawn farm. The total estimated area to be developed was up to 10, 000 hectares, which would turn it into one of the largest prawn farms in the world.
Project Sea Dragon (PSD) successively gained major project certification by Northern Territory, Western Australia and the federal government of Australia between July and September of 2016, which would bring many favorable policies and financing assistant to the project. SeaFarms launched three times of financing before. Although there were high risks for the development of the project, it successfully received support of several famous Australian businessmen and overseas investors.
Seafarms estimated that a total of 420 million US dollars would be expended for the first two stages of the project with a annual production of 29, 000 tonnes (final target was 162, 000 tonnes per year). On the basis of 13 US dollars/kg, the former two stages would bring 379 million US dollars of incomes. With relatively high nutritional value, shrimp is now one of the world’s most traded seafood products. Seafarms believes that growing middle class in developing countries would stimulate shrimp trading, especially in Chinese market.
Seafarms Group Limited was set up in 1988, the largest producer of farmed prawns (shrimp) in Australia with a market value of about 67 million Australian dollars. At present, Seafarms owns aquatic products operation in Queensland, which farms, processes and distributes up to 1, 500 metric tonnes of shrimp. The Crystal Bay brand of the group is sold in retailing stores in the whole country and is famous to Asian and European markets.
Black tiger shrimp is the main species farmed by Seafarms normally with a bigger size and a better quality than ordinary white-leg shrimp.
