Salmon producer Tassal looks to cash in on infrastructure drive

"Investments in our infrastructure have delivered scale in salmon and growing scale in prawns, which, together with pricing and mix optimisation, will drive growth in cashflows and shareholder returns," ASX-listed Tassal's managing director and chief executive, Mark Ryan, said in a presentation prepared for an investor conference on Thursday.

The company - with a controversial environmental record at its Tasmanian salmon operations - says it is not planning more leases in Tasmanian waters and is "committed to working responsibly within its current salmon footprint".

"Tassal is focused on achieving the right balance between minimising our environmental impact and maximising our shareholder value to ensure growth is optimised and sustainable," it said.

The company said there was expected to be low or no growth in global salmon supply in 2022 or 2023.

"Tassal has achieved a sustainable salmon annual harvest of about 40,000 hog tonnes from its existing marine leases," the presentation said.

"This scale position no longer requires incremental funding for growth.

" ... focus is now on targeted price, sales mix, cost optimisation, brand building and product innovation initiatives to drive future growth."

It said the domestic eatery market reflected global price increases to support margin increases, while Australian retailers had accepted cost increases to allow margins to be maintained.

"Factors above are driving a salmon price re-rating and positive medium-term outlook for pricing, more than offsetting current cost inflation pressures," it said.