From UndercurrentNews. Story by Alicia Villegas.

South Africa-based Oceana, a company that deals in fish oil and fish meal, plans to invest $13 million in two new facilities in Angola and Namibia.

Oceana also deals in canned food under the Lucky Star and Lucky Pet brands, and deals in cold storage, among other things.

Fishmeal is a commercial product made from fish and the bones and offal of processed fish. It is a brown powder or cake obtained by drying the fish or fish trimmings.

Fishmeal is recognized by nutritionists as a high-quality, very digestible feed ingredient that is favored for addition to the diet of most farm animals, according to the UniversityofFlorida.

“We are busy commissioning a plant in Angola that I think is an important investment,” said Oceana CEO Francois Kuttel. “We are doing this in conjunction with an Angolan partner and the country’s Ministry of Fisheries, and that facility will be up and running in December.”

In Namibia, the company will replace its fishmeal production capacity with an additional 2,000 tons by September 2016, said Kuttel, speaking at the 2015 IFFO conference last week.

“We are putting a new fishmeal plant in our cannery in Namibia with better technology and better quality. It will deal with trimmings from our canning operations,” Kuttel said.

In July, Oceana closed a “game-changer” transaction in the global fishmeal sector with the $382.3-million purchase of Daybrook Fisheries in Louisiana, U.S.

The African investments, in addition to the Louisiana menhaden and fishmeal operation at Daybrook Fisheries, will be followed by a period of consolidation at Oceana, to make sure that “investments are done efficiently,” Kuttel said.

Oceana also sees an opportunity for synergies between its African and American fishmeal investments that could take place during this consolidation period, he said.

At the IFFO conference, Kuttel said fishmeal is “probably the most attractive” sector to invest and grow within the seafood industry.

The acquisition has provided Oceana an additional 25,000 metric tons to its projected total fishmeal capacity by end of 2016, which is estimated to be at 107,000 tons.

Kuttel does not rule out an acquisition in the Peruvian fishmeal sector in a few years, but at the moment “timing is not right,” he said

“Certainly Peru is the most important hub for fishmeal, so one has to take a look at Peruvian investment opportunities,” Kuttel said. “After a few years we will look at possibly expanding again.”

Read more at UndercurrentNews.