To many people, eating (or even touching) sea cucumbers is pretty uninviting.

But China they are a delicacy, in hot demand as the middle class grows.

In 2017, the total output of sea cucumber products in China was worth 30 billion RMB ($6.2 billion).

$6.2 billion worth of sea cucumbers is a lot of sea cucumbers.

Now it is possible to gain exposure to this gross but burgeoning industry on the ASX, with investment company A1 Investments & Resources (ASX: AYI) announcing this as its latest venture.

A1 has signed a term sheet with private WA cucumber farmer Tidal Moon to form a joint venture to process raw sea cucumbers.

80 per cent of the produce would be on-sold to a Singaporean company which will sell it to other buyers in Asia. The remainder would be sold into Australia.

A1 Investments declared the products would be positioned as high end products, and priced accordingly.

 

I dont like cucumbers. What else is there?

If sea cucumbers are too ghastly, there are other exotic seafood options on the ASX. One is Ocean Grown Abalone (ASX:OGA) which sells abalone (strangely enough) – a species of sea snail.

Angel Seafood (ASX:AS1) sells oysters in South Australia’s Coffin Bay. It trod water following its early 2018 IPO after fears an oyster-killing virus had hit it.

It now sits at its 20 cent IPO price despite nearly tripling the amount of oysters sold – to 5.3 million and recording its maiden profit.

And then there’s New Zealand Coastal Seafoods (ASX: NZS) which sells ‘ling maw’ – a fish’s swim bladder.

But the majority of seafood stocks on the ASX are pretty conventional.  In the last 12 months, ASX seafood stocks are down 5 per cent on average, but since the start of spring they are up 8 per cent.

Code Name Price Market Cap 1Y % Return 1M % Return
SFG SEAFARMS GROUP LTD 0.096 $194.5M -36 25
NZK NEW ZEALAND KING SALMON 2.2 $304.9M -9 17
OGA OCEAN GROWN ABALONE LTD 0.17 $29.7M -6 13
NZS NEW ZEALAND COASTAL SEAFOODS 0.019 $9.5M N/A 12
CSS CLEAN SEAS SEAFOOD LTD 0.875 $80.9M -28 8
HUO HUON AQUACULTURE GROUP LTD 4.7 $384.3M 1 5
TGR TASSAL GROUP LTD 4.28 $885.5M -2 1
MCA MURRAY COD AUSTRALIA LTD 0.175 $79.3M 3 -3
AS1 ANGEL SEAFOOD HOLDINGS LTD 0.205 $27.0M 37 -7
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