The world’s second largest seafood producer, Japanese company Nissui Corporation, has committed a cornerstone investment in Australian seaweed start-up Immersion Group. IM will now construct a new onshore Asparagopsis production plant near Geelong.
Japan-based Nissui Corporation was the second-largest seafood producer globally in 2022 based on revenues of $8 billion.
Nissui corporation chief executive Shingo Hamada said the investment was an important step for the company to capitalise on the growing momentum behind Asparagopsis as a methane-reducing feed additive for ruminant livestock, adding that the investment would facilitate the expansion of a new seaweed division at Nissui.
“We see an incredible opportunity to produce Asparagopsis, targeting premium beef markets in Australia and Japan.
“Nissui’s existing marketing and distribution channels present an opportunity to develop a global Asparagopsis brand with Immersion Group, capable of servicing markets worldwide,” said Hamada.
Immersion Group CEO Scott Elliott said the Nissui investment would allow Immersion Group to rapidly scale the company’s proprietary onshore production technique for Asparagopsis and move into other geographies globally.
“There are 1 billion cattle in the world, and to have a cornerstone investor and strategic partner in Nissui puts us at the forefront of servicing this unheralded demand.
“Immersion Group was founded on a simple premise: we didn’t want to be the biggest Asparagopsis producer immediately, but we did want to be the best,” said Elliot.
Asparagopsis from the production plant will be directed into supplying trials in Australia and Japan. The proposed onshore plant will compliment Immersion Group’s existing operations in Portarlington and Queenscliff on Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula and Perth in Western Australia. The company delivers its onshore work in partnership with the University of Western Australia and Deakin University.
