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A successful Australian seafood processor has turned to cans to rapidly expand its operation and avoid the complexities involved with live exports.
Southern United Seafood in the inner Melbourne suburb of Richmond is exporting as much as 90 per cent of its canned abalone - the world's most expensive seafood.
More than 70 per cent of the exported canned abalone will go to China, with the rest going to countries such as Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and the United States.
Southern United Seafood has undergone an enormous change in direction by investing in a new canning facility that began production early last year and kicked into gear with the granting of an export licence in June.
The company is using topquality cans produced locally by Impress Australasia to ensure the quality and stability of its canned abalone, a seafood delicacy that sells in Australia for around $30 a can.
Local production capacity is 2500 cans per day, but is dependent on supply, which is in turn susceptible to weather and diving conditions in the abalone harvesting areas off Victoria and Tasmania.
Southern United Seafood director Wenson Lin, who founded the company in 1995, took a bold decision to expand the company and move into canned seafood after establishing a successful overseas export market for live lobster, abalone and crab.
The company worked on its new strategy and doubled the size of its premises, with turnover expected to increase by 30 per cent within the next 24 months.
"Exporting live seafood is a very time-critical and very fragile business," said Mr Lin, "and it is always a challenge to maintain the quality of the live products.
"Once our market position was secure for live seafood in the overseas market, we decided to expand the business into canning.
"With the abalone, we're looking away from the traditional canned export market and going with a more value-added product such as our gift boxes, which we can sell direct to our customers through supermarkets, restaurants and hotels."
The gift boxes contain two cans of abalone and sell for $68, or $100 with a small bottle of Australian red or white wine.
"It was vital for us to have a high-quality can because of the value of the product. We cannot risk quality, so we had to find the best can in the market. We found that with Impress and we're very happy with them."
Mr Lin came to Australia from China as a university student in 1990 and became involved in the food industry when he got a job as a restaurant waiter, which then led to a six-month spell with a Melbourne seafood company.
The ambitious young man and his wife decided they could do it better and started Southern United Seafood with only enough capital to buy 10kg of lobster these days, but quickly built it up through sheer hard work.
The company moved into new freehold premises in 2000, bought the twin building opposite in 2007 and now has 25 staff, but Mr Lin still works six days a week ensuring quality and service levels remain high.
"There is always strong competition, so there were lots of 24/7 years, but there is no other way in Australia," he said.
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Seafood Exports Are In the Can