SYDNEY, July 27 (Reuters) - Australia has fast-tracked the building of prawn farm that is expected to dramatically boost the country's prawn output, as part of a growing focus on food exports to ease the economy's reliance on the faltering mining sector.
Seafarms Group Ltd's SFG.AX proposed A$1.45 billion ($1.1 billion) prawn farm in the Northern Territory had been awarded "major project" status, the Australian government said on Monday, helping to smooth the approvals process needed for the project to move forward.
The government has been trying to attract investment in the remote Northern Territory, where the 10,000 hectare farm will be built, and is supporting alternatives to mineral exports at a time of slowing demand growth from China.
Some investors are turning to food, particularly protein-based and other high-end products, to supply the fast-growing Asian middle-class market.
The farm, which aims to begin exports in 2018, is expected to produce more than 100,000 tonnes of prawns a year - equivalent to more than 3 billion of the crustaceans and some 20 times Australia's current annual production.
The farm, "comes at the right time to meet surging global demand and takes advantage of northern Australia's inherent benefits of space, location and opportunity," Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Warren Truss said in a statement.
Seafarms Group's shares rose as much as 9 percent to the highest since 2013 after the "major project" status was announced. ID:nL3N10728X ($1 = 1.3708 Australian dollars)