Mostyn casts out Tassie seafood net

Leading WA agribusiness Craig Mostyn Group will cast a wide net to grow its speciality seafood exports after the strategic purchase of lobster and abalone processing facilities in Tasmania.

CMG chief executive David Lock said the $5 million investment built on the company's lobster operations in Tasmania and created the opportunity to become a major force in abalone.

"It also builds on our expertise in exporting speciality seafood and high-value products into the Asian market, particularly China," Mr Lock said.

"It delivers us about 40 per cent of the Tasmanian lobster industry, which is a very stable with a $100 a kilogram product, and it introduces us to abalone."

Mr Lock said CMG would look at other opportunities in speciality seafood, particularly where it could gain some control over supply chains in industries operating under quota systems.

He said CMG was excited about the opportunities in wild caught and farmed abalone.

CMG exports more than 350 tonnes of live lobster, king crab and scallops a year to Hong Kong, China, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and the Middle East.

The acquisition includes lobster and abalone processing facility in Bicheno on Tasmania's east coast and a depot to collect, store and transfer lobster in Dover on the south coast.