Rock lobster catch. (Photo: Stock File)

Promising opportunities offered to southern rock lobster exporters

AUSTRALIA
Thursday, October 18, 2018, 22:50 (GMT + 9)

The Australian southern rock lobster industry is well positioned to achieve significant export growth given the promising early catches, strong prices and the imminent Free Trade Agreement with China.

According to statistics from Primary Industries, the southern rock lobster (Jasus edwardsii) is only found in the waters of southern Australia and New Zealand and of the 3000 metric tonnes Australia processes commercially each year, about 53 per cent is caught in South Australia, 37 per cent in Tasmania and 10 per cent in Victoria.

The South Australian fishery is split into a southern and northern zone. The southern zone season opened on October 1 while the northern zone begins on November 1 with both fisheries operating until May 31.

A major player in the sector is South Australian company Ferguson Australia, which buys from fishermen in the southern and northern zones and transfers the live lobsters to tanks at its processing plants in Port MacDonnell, Kangaroo Island and Adelaide, The Lead South Australia reported.

China buys the majority of its catch while small amounts are shipped to markets such as Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore.

The company’s managing director Andrew Ferguson pointed out that favourable weather, solid catches and strong demand had led to a “fantastic start overall” to the season with a landing price in China of between AUD 99 (USD 70.5) and AUD 140 (USD 99.7) per kilogram.

Commercial southern rock lobster fisheries contribute around AUD 250 million (USD 178.2 million)  in landed seafood value to the Australian economy each year, mostly from Chinese sales.

According to the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will create a huge opportunity for locally produced seafood on the Chinese market.

Ferguson said the FTA would also allow Southern Rock Lobster exporters to get product into parts of China that were previously inaccessible.

“The niches are growing – we are not so reliant on the big wholesalers but we are supplying many more smaller customers and we’re looking for those niches in the market that we weren’t able to access before the free trade agreement,” the executive said.

Southern Rock Lobster Limited (SRL) Executive Officer Tom Cosentino highlights that the southern rock lobster consistently attracted higher prices than the Western Rock Lobster (Panulirus cygnus) which Western Australia produces and is considered the most valued lobster species globally.

SRL represents the Australian southern rock lobster industry on national policy issues and is also responsible for the ongoing development and management of the industry’s Clean Green Program; a world-first rock lobster supply chain management strategy.

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