It will go live in the first half of 2019, said the company.
Construction began in early 2018 and progress has been efficient, with the plant structure going up, silos erected, and all state of the art milling equipment now on site ready for installation, said Ridley.
The plant will manufacture and supply feed primarily to the Tasmanian salmon industry, as well as other aquaculture species in both mainland Australia and in New Zealand.
The company said the extrusion plant is strategically located to receive ingredients from local and mainland suppliers and that the site will facilitate a consistent and efficient feed supply chain for the long term support and growth of the aquaculture industries.
Ridley received AUS$2m in grant funding from the Tasmanian Government to support the project, with construction of the facility requiring around 250 contractors, including engineering consultants, civil, structural and electrical services.
The project will also create approximately 20 full time permanent positions, said the feed manufacturer.
Ridley, which makes feed and feed ingredients for the aquaculture, dairy, poultry, pig, beef, horse, canine, laboratory and pet food industries, has 21 manufacturing facilities across Australia, and a joint venture in Thailand.
Tasmania is the largest producer of fishery and aquaculture products in Australia, with the farm gate value of the salmon industry alone worth over half a billion dollars per year.
Ridley said the growth rate for the salmon industry is predicted to remain strong into the near future, with the cold waters making Tasmania the only region in Australia suitable for the cultivation of the salmon biomass.
BioMar build
Danish fish feed company, BioMar, is also building a new fish feed production factory in northern Tasmania.
It announced the investment in March 2017, but there have been some hold-ups.
“The project is progressing to plan, but obtaining local regulatory approval has postponed the project by a couple of months, and BioMar now expects the new facility - annual fish feed capacity of about 110,000 tons - to be ready in early 2020,” noted the parent company, Schouw & Co, in its interim report in November.
